On Mystery Island
by DwellInDreams1019
Summary: Who said that Lost and the mysterious island didn't have more stories to tell. (A retelling of Lost through the eyes of 5 new characters). OC/Miles, OC/Boone, OC/Ana Lucia, OC/OC
1. Stuck on the Island

**Hey everyone! I'm Erin! I actually wrote this story a long time ago (when I was about in middle school) and after reading it over, I decided to go through and edit it and repost it. Trust me, it needed it haha. I know that Lost has been over for a long time now, and not too many people probably read Lost fanfiction anymore, but I still want to write this story. Hopefully, I'll get some readers!**

 **This story includes 5 main characters (plus a really minor character) that I created. 2 are Losties, 2 are Others and 1 is a Tailie. It's starting from Season 1, so at this point only Callie and Dani (and Anna, the minor character) will be introduced, but as I start getting into the other seasons, my other characters will be.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of the characters in the actual show.**

Chapter 1, Day 1

 _Callie_

I looked down at the empty plastic cup in my hands with a sigh. The air in the plane felt dry and made me thirsty, and the soda I had been drinking had given me a bit of comfort in the situation. I'm not quite fond of flying and the plane I was on kept experiencing turbulence that made my heart pound.

I gripped the seat handles so hard that my knuckles turned white when the plane shook again. I really wish it would stop doing that. My mother sitting next to me noticed my discomfort at the heavy shaking and smiled at me, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"It's alright Callie," she said smoothly in her British accent, "it's just a bit of turbulence; nothing to worry about." I managed the best of a smile that I could and nodded, unconvinced. No matter what she could say, I would still be freaked out.

When the plane stopped shaking, I relaxed my grip a bit and looked around the plane. Everyone seemed calm for the most part. My eyes stopped on a pretty blonde lady whose stomach bulged out heavily. She was pregnant. Her eyes met mine and she offered me a warm smile. I returned it and quickly looked away to the incomplete drawing in my lap. I wasn't very good, but it was still something I liked to do to keep my mind busy.

Just when I was starting to get comfortable, the plane shook again. I dropped the pencil in my hands, ignoring when it plopped to the ground, and gripped the seat in a death grip once more, waiting for the shaking to stop.

But this time, it never did.

By the time the oxygen masks dropped down, everything was a blur to me. I briefly remember my mother putting the oxygen mask around me. I heard screams all around me and soon a huge cracking sound followed by a gust of wind that wouldn't go away. I tried to scream, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

I didn't dare look back, even though it was obvious the back of the plane had broken off. All I could remember thinking was that I was going to die. In last minute desperation, I grasped onto my mother's hand, and felt her squeeze back. I closed my eyes tightly and soon after felt a crash. The last thing I remember before blacking out was being pulled away.

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My green eyes fluttered open. Immediately, my head started throbbing. The deafening whirring noise for sure did not help it. I sat up to a horrifying sight. The plane was in front of me, or at least what was left of the plane. People were running around everywhere; some in panic, some helping others and some just in confusion.

I looked around more, listening to specific sounds and at certain people. There was a Korean man shouting a name in his native language, a middle-aged man calling out the name Walt, and one girl who was just… screaming. Not screaming for anyone or anything in particular, but just screaming.

I watched in horror as a man standing to close to the engine was sucked to the engine, causing it to blow up. I turned away, not wanting to watch it anymore, trying desperately not to cry. The spot I sat in was fairly vacated—I had obviously been dragged over here away from the wreckage. Where was my mother?

 _Mom!_ I shot up immediately, and clutched my head a bit out of the dizziness it caused me. My legs felt heavy but I still managed to walk up to the broken plane. I could still read the letters and numbers on the side of it: _Oceanic 815_.

For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at the plane. I stayed there for a few minutes, letting the fear consume me, and felt my hands shake as I attempted to muster up the courage to get closer. A man suddenly stepped in front of me, breaking my focus.

"Do you have a pen?" he asked. I stared back at him, puzzled.

"What? I-I -No, I don't have a pen." I replied. He walked off, seeming frustrated. A loud, terrible metallic whine hit my ears. I didn't even want to know what that came from and I turned my head away as I heard two men shouting, followed by a crash.

I started to hyperventilate heavily and tears began to run down my face. I quickly dried them up, not wanting to seem like the defenseless teenager who was scared for her life, even though that's exactly what I was. Bravely, I stood up straight, brushed my dirt filled curly blonde hair behind me and headed for the fuselage. I had just began to emerge into the wreckage until, of course, someone stopped me.

"Hey, you there! Little girl! Get away from there!" I angrily faced the source of the voice, and took in the sight of a man approaching me. He had a British accent, a black hoodie and shaggy blonde hair. I sighed impatiently, trying not to let my bad temper get the better of me. When he arrived, he panted out, "It's not safe in there. At least not now."

"Look, first of all," I snapped at the man, "I'm not a little girl. I'm 14, almost 15. Second, my mother might be in that plane, alive and well, and if you think I'm just going to _sit here_ , hoping she's just gonna appear out of nowhere, you're wrong. You can't stop me." I glared and turned away. The man threw up his hands in defeat.

"Fine. I'll just have to go with you," he declared. He looked sincere and a bit of anger left me, but I still kept my tone sharp.

"I'm not defenseless, you know. You don't have to do that."

"If you insist on going; then I'm coming with you. No one should go in there alone" he replied, rationalizing his reason for offering, but I knew better. I thought this over for a second, still slightly irritated that I was already being judged by my age. But I was scared, I'll admit it. And this man didn't seem too weird or creepy. In fact, there was something familiar about him—something that made me feel comfortable, and reminded me of home. Finally, I nodded.

"Let's go then."

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 _Dani_

I felt entirely useless. Almost everyone on the beach was running around, doing something. Shouting for help, searching for loved ones, looking for luggage, gathering firewood. And here I was, sitting near a tree after a traumatizing plane crash that could have killed me, writing in my journal.

It sounds pathetic, but to me, writing down what happened was a top priority to me. Writing helped me sort my thoughts and my feelings. Plus, this could be a big article once we got rescued. If we got rescued. I shook my head, not allowing myself to think like that. As I continued to write, my pen ran out of ink. I cursed myself for giving that man my last pen. There were probably more on the island though, hopefully.

I closed my journal and stuffed the pen and the journal into my small backpack. I sighed and rested my back against the tree, and shut my eyes. I really do hate my luck. I got up and made my way towards the first group of people I saw. Most of the survivors currently were trying to make a fire or searching for their luggage. I should probably try to find mine, but it was getting darker and I was a bit afraid of going near the plane. I decided to wait.

I joined the group of people that managed to build a fire, plopping down in a vacant spot. I willed myself to forget what I was feeling, and instead enjoyed the feeling of the heat on my brown skin.

I didn't notice the man next to me until he spoke.

"Are you all right?" he asked, in an Arabic accent. The man himself was Arab, and strongly built. I smiled and nodded, glad to talk to someone.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you," I replied in my Italian accent. The man smiled.

"My name is Sayid. What is yours?"

"I'm Dani. Dani Moretti. Nice to meet you." I replied, sticking out my hand. He shook it politely and turned away. I did also and closed my eyes again—ignoring the fact that I was now stranded on an island with a bunch of strangers—and relaxed. I focused only on the fire and finally felt calm.

I opened my eyes again and looked around seeing things had become calmer. The light was dimming from the sky by every minute and people were starting to recover from the crash. A blonde, pregnant woman was on the beach looking out at the water. A large man was putting meals from the plane into neat piles. An older bald man was sitting on the sand close to the water, looking out into the horizon.

The guy who had taken my pen passed me with a cell phone in his hand, trying to get a signal, apparently not with much luck. He was a quite attractive man, with nicely groomed brown hair and blue eyes that I could see even in the dark.

The Arabic man, Sayid, was gathering up wood for the fire, trying to make it bigger. I wanted to talk to somebody, just a little. I noticed an older woman across from me pick up her necklace and kiss the ring on it. I immediately felt sorry for her, guessing that she probably lost her husband. I looked back down at the fire and closed my eyes again.

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 _Callie_

I carefully made my way up the isle of the fuselage, stepping over debris and luckily not tripping. The blonde man was closely behind me, making sure I didn't fall. I thought that was kinda nice actually, but at the same time incredibly annoying.

"Mom?" I called out, starting to get more worried. So far, every body that I passed was lifeless. The atmosphere in the fuselage itself was incredibly grim, and I knew—I just _knew_ that when I found my mom, I wasn't going to like what I saw. But still, I continued to walk slowly past the rows of seats, trying not to look at the dead bodies in them, and deliberately not thinking that my mother was most likely one of them.

I froze when I saw the back of my mother's head. She wasn't moving. Slowly, I made my way up to her and then looked at her face. As soon as I saw her, my fears were confirmed. I knew she was dead.

It felt like someone had ripped out my heart and torn to pieces. I closed my eyes tightly and slowly sat on the floor. I put my face in my hands and let the tears seep out. My mom was my world—the only person I had. We were best friends; she was the only person I'd ever let myself trust. And now she was gone.

"Anna?" I looked up at the man's voice. His voice seemed pained and he looked distraught. Wait a minute; did he just say my mom's name?

"H-how did you know my mother's name?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly. I didn't even bother to put on my 'tough girl' facade. The man looked at me in astonishment.

"You're mother?" he questioned. "Anna's my sister."

I could only stare, tears still blurring my eyes, and a million questions running through my head. Finally I spoke.

"What do you mean she's your sister?" Maybe that wasn't the best question to ask, but it was the one that slipped out.

"I mean, well, she's my sister. You know, parents the same, grew up together. Related," he explained. He seemed to be in state of shock, staring at my mother's face with a pained expression. After a short pause, he looked away and addressed an extremely confused me. "Wait, if you're her daughter that means you're my niece which means… you must be Callie!"

"You know me?"

"Well, I haven't personally met you but Anna told me everything about you! I can't believe I'm finally meeting you!" the man's voice had brightened considerably at this discovery. My head was spinning. This man was my uncle? But my mother never mentioned any brothers. Not to mention, she _just died._ I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't bring myself to form coherent thoughts, or do anything besides just stare.

After a pause, the man added, "Even in the worst of circumstances." He spared a solemn glance down at my mother. He kneeled beside her and gently took her hand. I was silent as I watched him hold it, a few tears falling from his eyes. I wiped my eyes on the sleeves of my blue plaid button up, forcing myself to stop crying.

"W-who are you?" I asked after a while of silence. He held out his hand. His nails were painted black, I noticed.

"Charlie Pace." I shook it. That was my mom's last name. I nodded and shifted my eyes back to my mother. He looked at her too and spoke again, "I guess we better leave. There's nothing we can do." I didn't want to leave her, but he was right. So, I nodded again and turned to leave.

Charlie followed me out, still closely behind me. As odd and heartbreaking as the situation was, I was actually glad to find out that I had another family member. Better yet, a family member that happened to crash on the same island as me. It was good to know that I wasn't alone in this world. But I was still completely astonished. I mean, all of a sudden out of nowhere, my mother was dead and I have an uncle. It was crazy.

As these thoughts ran through my head, I thought of how familiar my uncle's name sounded to me. When I finally realized where I heard it, I stopped in my tracks and turned back to him.

"You said your name was Charlie Pace right? Like, Charlie Pace from DriveShaft?" I asked, referring to one of my favorite bands. He smiled immediately.

"Yeah, I'm from DriveShaft. You know us?" he asked happily. I smiled.

"They're one of my favorite bands. This is amazing."

"Really? I'm glad you like us!" I smiled even wider and walked next to him to a nearby fire. At this fire, there were a couple people huddled in blankets. There was an Arabic man, and older woman, and a kind looking dark-haired girl.

I was handed a blanket and I wrapped it around myself, not realizing before how cold I was. The fire felt good and the blanket helped. Charlie and I introduced ourselves to the rest. The Arabic man was named Sayid, the older woman Rose and the dark-haired girl Dani. Time seemed to pass slowly, but it was still getting even darker each moment. There were now several fires; a small group huddled up at each one.

"You think they would have come by now," Sayid said, breaking the silence in our group. Charlie looked up at him.

"Who?" Charlie asked.

"Anyone." Charlie looked away and back down at something he was writing on his hands. I saw the girl, Dani, get up and walk somewhere, probably to go explore around. Meet more people possibly. I snuggled back into my blanket and closed my eyes again, feeling more comfortable than I probably ever will on this place. I guess I better enjoy it while it lasts.

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 _Dani_

I wandered around, looking at all of the faces from the plane. I probably wouldn't get to know all of them before we get rescued, but I wanted to at least get to know some. I liked being around other people, and I figured everyone could use someone to talk to. A man named Hurley who had been sorting airplane food before had found bottled water; and so I offered to pass some out to the others.

I smiled kindly at the older bald man I had seen earlier as he thanked me for the water, and headed over to the next person I saw. She was a young woman with blonde hair who was… painting her toenails? Well, I guess if it passed time.

"Hello, would you like some water?" I asked her, careful not to startle her. The young woman looked up at me, almost condescendingly.

"No thanks, I have my own. Who knows where those have been," she said rather rudely. I held back a scoff, and instead forced a smile, electing to move on far away from her. I turned to walk away and almost ran into another person. I recognized him as the man who asked for the pens.

"Sorry! I did not see you."

"It's okay" he said, taking a bite of a candy bar. "Just ignore my sister, she thinks she better than everyone else because she only eats salads and vitamin water." The woman shot a glare up at her brother, but I held back a laugh. "I'll take one."

I handed him one of the bottles, and watched as he sat down next to his sister. He broke off a piece of chocolate and held it out to me. "Here, take a break for a bit."

"Thanks," I replied, taking the chocolate, and hesitantly sat down. I looked over at them. "You don't happen to still have any of those pens do you?"

"Oh yeah, here, take them all," the man said, handing me a pile of pens next to him. I smiled gratefully.

"My name's Daniella. But I go by Dani." He nodded and looked away again. I took another shot at a conversation and I bravely asked, "What's your name?"

"Boone. That's Shannon. She's a bitch." Shannon looked up at him and glared again. He ignored her.

"Yes, I've gathered that," I smiled. The woman put down her nail polish irritably.

"Okay, can you leave?" she raged. I stopped the smile threatening to form on my lips, and pushed myself off of the ground, gathering the bag of water bottles I had been carrying.

"I see I have awoken the beast. I guess I should go," I joked. At the expense of his sister, Boone chuckled. "I have to finish passing these out anyway. Nice to meet you, Boone, Shannon."

When I started to walk away, Boone called out, "Hey! Where's that accent from?"

I smiled over my shoulder, "Italy."

I plopped down in the sand near a group of survivors that looked fairly welcoming after I had finished passing out the water bottles I had. I dug an airplane blanket I stole from my backpack, and wrapped it around me, and laid down in the soft sand. It wasn't that comfortable, but it would have to do.

I shot up as a loud growl suddenly came from the forest. I started to stand up, along with several people, wondering what the hell that was. I moved towards the larger fire, where most people were.

It was dark, but it was easy to see that some of the trees in the jungle were being pulled down. "Did anybody see that?" the pregnant Australian woman that I had seen before asked and several people nodded their head, including me. No one, however, could see what was creating the sound and pulling the trees.

"Terrific," a man in the front said unenthusiastically. The noise continued for maybe another fifteen minutes, before it finally stopped. People nervously went back to their own sections where they were staying but continued to look around, expecting to see the monster creating the noise. I also went back to my previous sleeping place and cuddled up again. I sighed and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep.


	2. Where Are We?

**Thank you to vinzgirl for reviewing! I honestly wasn't expecting reviews so it was nice haha!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or anything in it.**

Chapter 2, Day 2

 _Callie_

I woke up early the next morning. It had to be around seven or eight, but a lot of people were already awake. I slowly got up and walked over to the closest group, where my uncle was. We had talked a lot last night, finding things in common and getting to know one another. He was quite funny actually, and I enjoyed being around him.

There were lots of people talking about 'the thing' from last night. None of us had any idea what it was. I could have just been a really large animal, but could an animal be large enough to pull down a bunch of trees like that?

I sat down in the group next to Charlie and just barely managed to smile at the people around me. I noticed the man before that was shouting a name. He found whoever he was looking for because a child, no older than ten years old was next to him. I guessed his name was Walt. Sayid and Dani were across from me, as well as the man who had been asking for pens the day before, and a blonde woman next to him.

"It wasn't natural, whatever it was," the man with the son said. This group was talking about the thing too, apparently. Some people in the group, like my uncle, decided to ignore the conversation, but I listened intently. I wanted to know what other people thought of whatever this thing was—or maybe I was just looking for some kind of reassurance that we weren't in danger. Another heavyset man approached us.

"So… I was just looking inside the fuselage… it's pretty grim in there," he said, sounding a little scared. "You think we should do something about the, um," he glanced back over at Walt, the little boy and continued, "B-O-D-Y-S?" Everyone looked around confused. He actually spelled bodies wrong.

"What are you spelling, man, bodies?" Walt's father said. Ironically, his son corrected the large man.

"B-O-D- _I-E-S_ ," Walt corrected.

"That sounds like a good idea," Sayid agreed.

"No, they'll deal with them when they get here," the blonde woman shot back and the pen man looked a little irritated. Another man had come up to us now. He looked around in his mid 30's and had short dark brown hair. He kneeled down.

"Hey, we're going to look for the cockpit. See if we can find a transceiver to send a distress signal to help the rescue team," he informed us and then turned to the pen man, "I'm gonna need you to keep an eye on the wounded." I assumed that they had met the previous day as he continued to give him instructions.

"I'll come with," Charlie said standing up, once the other man finished.

"No, that's ok. We don't need any help." The man stood up.

"No, I want to help. I don't really feel like just sitting around." The man nodded and Charlie turned back to me. "Would you like to come also?" I shook my head.

"No, thanks. I, on the other hand, do feel like sitting around," I refused, smiling. He returned my smile and left. When they were gone, I focused on Dani and Sayid's conversation.

"Who was that man that just left? The man going to the cockpit?" Dani asked. I was about to ask that question too.

"That was Jack. He's a doctor. The man that left with him was Charlie, and I do not know the name of the woman with them," Sayid replied. Both Dani and I nodded. I looked over at the remaining people in the group, whom I did not know and asked for their names.

The pen man was named Boone and the blonde woman next to him was his sister Shannon. The large man was named Hurley and the boy's father was Michael. I was glad to finally learn people's names. People came and left our little group. The pregnant woman came to sit next to me.

"Hello," she said sitting down next to me. She had an Australian accent.

"Hi," I greeted back."I'm Callie."

"Claire." She smiled and put her hand on her stomach.

"How far along are you?" I asked curiously.

"Almost eight months. I haven't felt it since after the crash though. I'm not sure if it's ok or not."

"I'm sure it is. Once the doctor gets back you can check with him." She smiled again and we went into a comfortable silence. All of a sudden, clouds went over the sun and heavy rain started to pour down. Claire and I raced under a hanging piece of plane debris, where Rose was also. An older man was probably the only one not looking for shelter, but instead happily letting the rain pour on him.

 _Crash!_

 _Crash!_

 _Crash!_

It was back. The thing was back. I stepped out into the rain and watched in dismay as trees plummeted to the ground. Claire stepped out with me.

"There it is again," she said frightfully. Rose was close behind her.

"Oh my god," Rose breathed. I backed up and stood closer to them.

 _Flashback_

 _"Anna Pace, Callie Georgeston, you may come in." I sighed as my mother and I's names were called. I really did not want to see_ him. _But my mom made us come here anyway, much to my displeasure. I understood why. He hadn't paid any child support since I was three, and rather preferred to spend all his money on his drugs. My mom figured if we did this for him, he owed us._

 _I stood up walking towards the heavily guarded visiting room of the jail. Then I saw him, my stupid, cocky, son-of-a-bitch father. He smirked at my mother and me and bowed his head slightly. "Pleasure to see you two again," he said in his smooth voice. It made me sick. My mother glared and sat down at the table, as did I._

 _"You must know why we're here, Sam," she said seriously, cutting right to the chase. My father no longer had a trace of a smile on his face and looked serious also._

 _"Actually, no I don't. Care to inform me?"_

 _"We're here to bail you out and then take you back to America where you're free to do whatever the hell you want to." I said bitterly._

 _"You have a ten thousand dollar bail over your head. I got some help from the family. We're willing to pay it," my mom continued quietly. "But if we do, this means you owe us okay? No more backing out."_

 _My father was speechless for a moment. He looked almost confused, and gave a slight shake of his head. "Don't do that," he practically whispered._

 _My mother blinked. "What?" she said._

 _"I don't want to go back to America. I don't want to get out of this place. At least not yet." My mom and I exchanged a look, confirming that we were both taken by surprise. After a pause, he sighed. "Look, I need the help okay. I'm done with it—all of it. The drugs, the scams. This was the last straw. I want to be better. This place will help."_

 _"Sam, are you insane?" my mother asked in disbelief._

 _"I'm serious, Anna. I'm not going back," he said firmly. My mother took a minute to absorb this, but eventually nodded._

 _"Alright then. Have fun here I guess. Bye, Sam. Come on, Callie." My mother and I stood up and I offered a small nod goodbye towards him. He smiled back and I looked away uncomfortably, following my mother out the door._

 _Dani_

It stopped raining after a while and I pulled myself from under a tree, thankful for its shelter. I stepped out into the sunlight, enjoying its heat against my wet skin. Looking down at my arm, I noticed that the cuts I had received from the crash were healing rapidly.

I laid down in the sand, closing my eyes and letting the sun warm my skin. Jack, Charlie and the woman with them (whose name I had found out to be Kate) had been gone most of the day and I was starting to get a little worried. What if they didn't come back? _Stop thinking like that, Dani,_ I thought.

"Hey, I think they're back," a voice from above me said. I opened my eyes only to see a set of bright blue ones.

"Hmm?" I asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. Boone grinned and offered me a hand up. I stretched and took it.

"Jack, Kate and Charlie. They're back."

"And what exactly is that?" I asked him, gesturing to the commotion coming from the crowd we were headed towards.

"Another day on Mystery Island," Boone replied. I smiled.

When we got up to the crowd, I saw that there were two men fighting. As I got closer, I recognized one as Sayid. The other was a blonde man whom I did not know. They were really going at it in their fight, throwing harsh punches and screaming at each other, lunging when Jack and Michael held them back.

"Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them that _I_ crashed the plane! Go on!"

"If the shoe fits, buddy!"

Apparently, Michael's son had found a pair of handcuffs in the jungle, and the southern man decided to live up to the 'racist redneck' title and blame the only Arabic person on the island for crashing the plan. I rolled my eyes as the fight progressed and decided to walk away

I sat off to the side near the tree I had been under earlier, wanting to be alone. Lucky, I had plenty of working pens thanks to the stash Boone had given me. I took one of them from my backpack along with my journal and started to jot down my thoughts. I had already described the crash earlier before my first pen ran out of ink. I wrote about the people I had met so far and what I thought of them. I gave short descriptions also and wrote about what had happened from this morning up until now. When I was done, I leaned back against the tree and relaxed.

 _Flashback_

 _I was finally finished packing and I sat down on the hotel bed, looking around the room for anything that I could have possibly forgotten. The room I had spent the past two weeks in was cleared of my personal belongings and I smiled to myself, content. I was flying back to my home in Cosenza, Italy today._

 _I exited the room, gently closing the door behind me and walked down to the elevator. I reached the lobby and plopped down in one of the chairs, waiting for the airport shuttle bus. Making sure my luggage was clearly in my line of sight, I approached the front counter to turn in my room key and check out._

 _I followed the room check out procedure and was about to return to my chair when the man at the desk stopped me. "Are you Daniella S. Moretti, staying in room 423?" I nodded."You have a letter." He handed a letter to me and I took it, a little surprised._

 _I sat down in my chair and flipped the envelope over to see the address. It was from my college. I opened it eagerly and my eyes widened as I read the words._

 _They loved my article… they said it was good enough to be published… they wanted me to get it published in Los Angeles. I pulled out the other piece in the envelope, a plane ticket. Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California. They gave me an address to a publisher of a newspaper._

 _My reaction was slow but finally I smiled and laughed. I was only in college and already I was getting an article that I wrote published! I smiled as I saw the shuttle bus come and hopped on, happily heading to the airport._

I heaved a sigh when I heard Boone and Shannon shouting at each other. I wondered if this is what it will be like all the time with these two here. I got up from my tree and started to walk off to another part of the beach, until I heard the conversation in which Shannon and Boone had joined. They were leaving to get a signal for the transceiver. Hey, it would give me something to do. Maybe I could help.

"Hey!" Kate turned to face me as I ran. "Can I come with you?"

"If you can keep up," she said with a kind smile, and I followed the group.

We ventured further into the jungle, and I felt a little bit of nervousness stir up. I was better that I was with such a large group, but the jungle was frightening, and large. You never know what could pop out. Someone appeared next to me and strode quickly towards the front. As I got a look at the back of his head, I could tell it was that same Southerner that had been harassing Sayid. _Great_.

"Decided to join us?" Kate asked, surprised.

"I'm a complex guy, sweetheart," he said shortly, continuing to take the lead.

The hike was extremely difficult. The mountains we had to climb up were almost 90 degrees, straight up. We had only vines, ledges and each other to help us out. I also followed closely behind Kate, and was helped along the way by Boone. I didn't dare glance down to see how the people behind me were doing. I was too afraid to. Soon enough, we reached a plain surrounded only by grass and trees.

"Ok, wide open space. You should check the radio. See if we're good," the blonde man, whose name was Sawyer, said. He was now in the back.

"We're not going to have any reception here," Sayid said impatiently.

"Just try it." I rolled my eyes. This is going to be another fight between them.

"I don't want to waste the batteries."

"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day."

"We're still blocked by the mountain."

"Just check the damn radio!" Sawyer started yelling.

"If I just check," Sayid shouted back, "we might not have enough juice left for when we get to—" he was cut off sharply by a sudden rumble. Our group froze, terrified, and looked for the source of the sound in unison.

The grass crumbled indicating whatever was there was now moving towards us. Frightened, I took a few steps back, inching myself closer to my fellow survivors for comfort. I heard Shannon let out a whimper.

"What the hell's that?" Boone questioned. After a pause, Kate answered.

"Something's coming."

"Coming towards us, I think?" Charlie said.

"Let's move!" Kate yelled, and the group took that as their cue to bolt. Most of us started running, but Shannon just stood there, shrieking, until being led away by Boone. I found myself frozen to my spot behind Sawyer. But he hadn't moved either.

A few of the survivors called out to us, particularly Kate to Sawyer and Boone to me, but neither of us moved. A deep growl snapped me out of my trance. I finally moved, stepping closer to Sawyer and pulling gently, but urgently, on his arm. "Come on, we need to go!" I told him. Other than shrugging my hand away, he gave me no response and no effort to budge. I desperately looked towards the rest of the group, wondering if I should just run towards them, or try to save Sawyer.

Then, Sawyer pulled out a gun. Where in the world did he get that? He fired ten shots and the thing—whatever it was—collapsed right in front of us. My eyes widened as I finally got a good look at it. It was…. a bear. A giant white bear. The others eventually reached the point where Sawyer and I stood, and stared in shock at the creature.

"That's… That's a big bear," Kate stated.

"You think that's what killed the pilot?" Boone asked.

"That? No," Charlie answered, "No, that's a tiny, teeny version compared to that."

Puzzled, I asked, "Pilot?"

"Yeah, they had found the pilot in a part of the plane," Boone explained to me, "but then something got him. Hurt him pretty bad from what I heard." I felt a shock of fear run through me. I sure wish I had known that before I decided to venture off into the jungle.

There was a pause before Kate spoke, "Guys, this isn't just a bear. It's a polar bear."

With a shock, I realized she was right. It _was_ a polar bear. What was a polar bear doing in the jungle? How could it have possibly gotten on this deserted island?

"Wait a minute," Shannon cut in, "polar bears don't usually live in the jungle. Then why is it here?"

"I don't know. No, polar bears don't live this far south," Sayid confirmed.

"This one does," I added, crossing my arms.

"Did," Sawyer stated firmly, walking around us. "It did." Kate looked at him.

"Where did that come from?" she asked Sawyer.

"Probably Bear Village. How the hell do I know?" he replied.

"Not the bear, the gun."

He stared her down for a minute. "I got it off one of the bodies."

"One of the bodies." Sayid's voice was disbelieving.

"Yeah, one of the bodies," Sawyer said in a short tone.

I sighed as the arguing continued, rubbing my forehead. I was going to end up with a major headache at this rate. Sawyer had apparently gotten a gun off of the Marshal that was on the plane. I hadn't known there had been one, but I guess it wasn't too hard to believe. But I wasn't sure exactly if I trusted Sawyer yet, especially not enough to let him have a gun, even if he had probably just saved all of us.

I felt a bit of relief as Kate grabbed the gun from the southerner's pants and pointed at him. "Does anybody know how to use a gun?" she asked calmly

"I think you just pull the trigger," Charlie instructed, mimicking the action.

"Don't use the gun," Sayid said, glancing exasperatedly at Charlie.

"I want to take it apart." With this, the tension left the air and Sayid gave her instructions. When she was done, she handed the useless gun back to an amused Sawyer. I blocked out their conversation.

We continued to walk for while, to the point where my legs started to ache. I was usually a pretty active person and took regular heights, but this was definitely more than just a regular hike. It was mostly uphill from where we were at but not steep, luckily. Eventually, Sayid pulled out the transceiver and fiddled with the notches. Sawyer noticed this and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, _now_ it's a good time to check the radio. Not before, but now," he began. I shot an irritated glance over at him. My head was about to explode listening to these two.

"We're up higher," was Sayid's only reply.

"Yes, we are."

Then Sayid must have said something I didn't hear, because a couple of the others turned around to face him. I copied their actions. He was staring at the screen of the radio, excited and repeated himself. This time I heard it. We had gotten a bar on the radio! The rest of us raced up to him.

He played around with the buttons in the hopes to contact someone. All that came from the radio was a screech. But that was good apparently. Sawyer tried to start to argue again, with the doubt of our chances of communication in his mind, but Sayid was too caught up with the radio. We all listened carefully, huddled in a circle around Sayid.

"We can't transmit because something else is already transmitting," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Transmitting from where?" Charlie said.

"Somewhere close. The signal is strong," Sayid answered. I started to feel hopeful, as did the rest.

"Close? You mean like here on the island? That's good right?" I asked hopefully.

"Maybe its other survivors," Boone suggested.

"From _our_ plane? How-"Shannon started.

"What kind of transmission is it?" Sawyer asked, still sounding doubtful. Sayid replied with names of possible transmissions. Kate then asked if we could listen to it, and Sayid tried to get a frequency. "There's no transmission," Sawyer disagreed. I smiled slightly when Kate told him to shut up, admiring her fiery attitude. Charlie then insisted that it was the rescue party. We all stopped when a sudden frantic voice sounded from the radio. It was a woman's voice, speaking in French. I knew exactly what she was saying, and it was not good.

"That's French! The French are coming! I've been so happy to hear the French!" Charlie exclaimed with a huge smile and a couple people, including Sayid, laughed along with him. My face stayed as hard as stone.

"Does anybody speak French?" Kate asked. I raised my hand, a lump forming in my throat as I listened to the words, and Boone pointed towards Shannon.

"What?! I don't speak French!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! You spent a year in Paris!" Boone shouted at his sister.

"Drinking! Not studying!" she shouted back. I was starting to get angry. Seriously, enough!

"Shut up!" I snapped, loud enough to silence the group. They stared at me, surprised. I blushed, a little embarrassed but continued firmly. "Stop arguing, it's not going to solve anything! I think we've all had enough from those two!" I gestured to Sayid and Sawyer, angrily.

A man's voice then came from the radio, breaking through the silence caused by my outburst. "Iteration one seven two nine four five three one." I didn't have a clue what that meant. Sayid started to worry… the batteries were dying. Boone continued to pressure Shannon about her language skills and Sayid looked to me desperately.

"You said you speak French?" he asked. I nodded and held out my hand for the radio. He gave it to me and I pressed my ear against it. I let out a shaky breath, knowing these people weren't going to like what I was going to translate.

"It's repeating," I said. Sayid explained how that's what iteration meant to the others while I tried to do my best to listen to it. I could barely hear it anymore because of the low battery life. Sayid did math in his head on how many times it had been repeating. I was starting to get frantic. I finally pressed it up to my ear again and concentrated only on the voice.

"S-s-she's saying, 'Please. Please help me. P-please come get me." I felt tears coming to my eyes and I let out another shaky breath as the message repeated, finally hearing the beginning of it. "'I'm all alone now. I'm on the island alone. Please someone come. The others, they're…t-t-they're dead. It killed them. I-I-it killed them all." I stopped and looked at the radio. It was dead. I gave it back to Sayid with a shaky hand.

There was a heavy, frightened silence around us. "Sixteen years." We all turned to Sayid. "Sixteen years, five months and nine days. That's the count."

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"The iterations. It's a distress call, a plea for help, a mayday. If the counter is right, then it has been playing over and over for sixteen years."

We let this sink in for a moment. Then Boone asked, "Someone else was stranded here?"

"Maybe they came for them," Kate suggested, obviously trying to stay positive, but Sawyer had to ruin it.

"If someone came, then why is it still playing?" he asked. There was a long pause, with only the sounds of our scared breathing. I knew we were all pretty much thinking the same thing. We weren't going to survive. No one would come for us and we would all get killed out here. Finally, Charlie spoke the question that was on everybody's minds.

"Guys… where _are_ we?"


	3. Living on the Island

Chapter 3, Day 2-3

 _Dani_

We were moving pretty fast now, trying to get back to our camp as soon as possible. The sky was darkening. There was no way we could make it back before sundown. I was thankful I was at least with a big group of people—there was no chance I would stay out here alone.

"It's getting dark," Boone commented.

"Then pick up the pace," Sawyer said, still being a total jackass. I shook my head, wondering if he would ever stop. I decided I didn't like him. He royally pissed me off. He was rude and didn't even attempt to get along with the rest of us, so why should we with him?

Sayid suggested that we make camp here to rest for the night. I was with him on this one. The jungle was scary and whatever ever creepy monstrous animal was out there, ripping trees right out of their roots; well, I did not want to be in its path.

"I'm not stopping. Y'all have a nice cookout," Sawyer said. Sayid turned back to him.

"Excellent. Walk through the jungle in the dark."

"Ooooh. You think the big scary trees are gonna get us?" Sawyer mocked, turning around.

"No. What is knocking down the trees will get you."

"You're so worried about me, how about you give me the clip back?" he pulling out the empty gun from his back pocket.

"Put your gun back in your pants, Sawyer," Kate ordered. Sawyer grinned, but he did so. "Sayid is right. If we keep walking, we won't make it back to the beach."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

Kate paused for a moment. "Trust me," she finally said. Sawyer took a moment to look at her until he nodded and walked back towards our group. We all pitched in making our camp for the night. Sayid, Boone, Shannon and I helped make a fire while the rest set up places to sleep. When the sky had turned black, we huddled around the fire, our only light source.

My fellow survivors and I listened intently as Sayid explained what happened to us and our plane. The pilot had lost communication with the ground about half way in and that's when he got the brilliant idea to head for Fiji, without anyone knowing. Then, crash.

"The pilot said we were over a thousand miles off course," Kate said softly.

"Yeah but, they'll find us," Charlie said. "They've got satellites in space that can take a picture of your license plate."

"If only we were all wearing license plates," Sayid responded shaking his head.

"Well aren't you the pessimist."

"Basic photography," Sayid explained, "point and shoot. Satellites can shoot but they must be told where to point."

"Oh. Bollocks," Charlie said, disappointed.

"Ok, really enjoyed the puppet show. Fantastic. So we're stuck in the middle of damned nowhere. How about we talked about the other damned thing?" Sawyer said. "The transmission Abdul picked up on his l'il radio? You know, where the French chick said that said they're all dead. And the transmission has been on a loop for," he turned to Kate, "how long, Freckles?" I've noticed by now that he tended to give everybody their own nicknames. I had been fortunate enough to receive the extremely creative nickname 'Italia'. I rolled my eyes.

As did Kate when she replied, "Sixteen years."

"Right. Let's talk about _that_." Everyone looked around, waiting for someone to say something.

"Well," I started, "we need to tell the others when we get back." Boone nodded.

"Tell them what, exactly?" Shannon said coldly, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Tell them what we heard," I shot back, shooting a cold glare at the spoiled little princess.

"We're not going to tell them anything," Sayid stated, drawing our attention to him in curiosity. "To relay what we heard without fully understanding it will cause a panic. People don't like questions they don't have answers to. If we tell them what we know, we take away their hope. And hope… hope is a very dangerous thing to lose."

We looked around, silently agreeing. "So we lie," Kate said, ending the conversation. We sat in silence for a while before starting to head back to our own sleeping places. I never left the fire. I stared into it, letting my thoughts wander. Why did this have to happen to me? I had a great life before this crash—I had amazing, loving friends, and I was establishing my career. And now… now what? What if we never got rescued? I would never see my father again. I would never achieve my dream of becoming a famous writer. I wanted so much to believe that I was just being a pessimist, but something told me that was not the case. Something told me that we would be here for a while.

I yawned. It was late, and I should probably start to get some sleep. It wasn't a very far journey back from here, but all of the walking we did today thoroughly drained me. My eyes had begun to droop as I enjoyed the heat of the dimming fire. Some people were falling asleep already and some were just getting settled. I felt someone sit next to me and I looked over to see Charlie.

"Exhausting day, huh?" he said. I nodded heavily, rubbing my eyes a bit. Though we had both come on this trip, we had never exactly spoken to each other. I didn't know much about him—only that he was a famous rockstar and his niece was that Callie girl. He seemed nice enough from my first impression of him.

"I was just about to head to sleep," I told him with a slight smile. "I was just thinking… What was that thing that killed the pilot?"

"We dunno. Whatever it was… it was massive. Deadly."

I shuddered, and felt sick to my stomach. "I should have just gone back to Italy, why did I get on that stupid plane?"

Not knowing how to respond, Charlie gently squeezed my shoulder, and left me alone. I put my face in my hands, letting silent tears seep out of my eyes. Sayid was right about people losing hope. My hope was sure gone. I allowed myself to cry for a bit longer, knowing I would feel better once it was all out. Eventually, I took in a few deep breaths to calm myself and brushed the remaining wetness away from my eyes. I was the last one awake. Or at least that's what it looked like.

The fire was almost gone and I decided I wanted to be asleep before the light had completely vanished. I laid down at a spot near the fire, dragging the airplane blanket I stole out of my backpack and wrapping it around me. Almost immediately, I fell asleep.

The next morning, we woke up and started walking back instantly, not wanting to be in the jungle for any longer than we had to. I briefly remember waking up in the middle of the night to an argument involving the gun, but I had rolled my eyes and blocked it out, falling back asleep soon after. Everybody was silent along the trip. It seemed like forever until we finally reached our camp. When we returned, people crowded around us, eager for good news, or just any news at all.

Sayid explained how we were not able to make a transmission and how we failed to pick up a signal. It felt bad lying, but I knew it was to keep everyone calm. He described how we could boost the signal using electronic devices. He organized three groups: food rationing, water and electronics. Uninterested, I walked away from the group. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pregnant woman wave me down, and I turned in her direction.

"Hey, are you Dani Moretti? I thought I heard someone say your name earlier, but I wasn't sure." I smiled at the young woman, nodding my head.

"Yes, that's me."

"I found something you might like to have. Follow me. Oh, I'm Claire, by the way." She led me to where her small tent was and held her hand out to something. She grabbed onto it and held it in front of her. It was my suitcase and my purse. "Ta da!"

"Oh, you found them! Thank you so much! How did you find them?" I exclaimed with relief. I felt like hugging her, but I didn't want to freak her out.

"You're welcome! I was looking through the luggage and came across yours, recognized the name, you know? Lucky it had your name on it or else I wouldn't have known whose it was," she smiled. I took the luggage from her gratefully.

"Well, thank you. Seriously. I can't thank you enough."

She waved her hand nonchalantly. "Don't mention it."

Bowing my head appreciatively, I walked off, trying to decide how to pass my time. Really, what was there really was to do besides wait? I was reluctant to make a tent. I felt that if I did, I would be giving into the hopelessness I couldn't seem to shake. But logically, I knew I would need one. So in the spot I had slept in on the first night, I attempted to pitch a tent, trying to copy some of the others in the area. That didn't work out too well. By the time I was done, there was a pile of tent supplies at my feet, but certainly no tent. So much for that.

Instead, I took out my journal and a pen and started writing down what had happened on the trip. I explained every single detail in the best way I could. I blushed as I caught myself writing about how gorgeous I thought Boone's eyes were. I scribbled that out, but reconsidered and wrote it down again, continuing. It was my thought nevertheless. It's not like it really meant anything. I didn't _think_ I was actually interested in him, but he was nice to look at.

I spotted the Korean couple that I had seen on the first day here. The Korean woman caught me looking at her and I smiled. She smiled back, but only for a minute. I could only imagine how terrifying and lonely it must be for them to be trapped here with no idea what happened and no way to communicate with anyone. I should try to get to know them. I do speak Korean, after all.

I got up and walked towards them. "Hello," I greeted with a smile, in English first, just to make sure. The woman looked at me again and smiled, though the word didn't seem to register. Her husband didn't even bother to look up.

"What are your names?" I asked, this time in Korean. Both the woman and the man looked up at me in shock at hearing their own language.

"My name is Sun," the woman finally replied also in Korean, after letting the fact that I speak her language sink in. She smiled and held out her hand. I shook it. "This is my husband Jin." The man had looked away by now. I guess he wasn't the socializing type.

"I'm Dani," I greeted. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," she said kindly, glancing behind her. Her husband was gone now, wanting nothing to do with the conversation. Kind of rude in my opinion.

"He doesn't like people, does he?" I asked. She looked back at me and shook her head.

"At least not here, no." She looked off, seeming a little sad. She looked back again. "I noticed you left with the group going to get a signal from the transceiver. I could not understand what that man was saying. Do you mind explaining?" I nodded and told her about the trip we took and what had happened.

Sun seemed fairly nice and I felt sorry that she couldn't understand anything that was going on, considering no one spoke Korean. When I was finished, we chatted for a while longer and eventually I left, bidding her a friendly goodbye. I searched for something else to do. I spotted Charlie and Claire laughing together, him helping her lift luggage. It seemed like kind of an unlikely friendship, but it also fit in a way, and it made me smile as I watched them. I glanced around the beach, noticing most people in groups or pairs, chatting or laughing. I felt a slight pang in my chest that I knew was loneliness.

 _Flashback_

 _Nine year old Dani_

 _I sat in the front seat of my mother's new car, looking around my new home. We had just moved to America after my parents had gotten divorced. I was being forced to move from my home in Italy._

 _It was awful. I only spoke Italian and I had no clue what people around here were saying. Neither did my mother, but she pretended like she did. I sighed and kept my gaze out the window. I saw my mother look at me from the corner of my eye._

 _"Now, Daniella, it's not so bad," she tried to comfort me, speaking in Italian. My only reply was another sigh. She shook her head and looked back at the road._

 _"We'll both go in speech classes before I start work and you start school. We'll be experts in two languages by the time you do. You can impress everybody in school by speaking both," she tried to excite me. It wasn't working. I rolled my eyes and looked at her pretty brown colored face. She got the point that nothing she could say could convince me that this would be a great experience, moving to America._

 _"Am I ever going to see dad again?" I asked. My father was still back in Italy. My mom had gotten the custody rights or whatever._

 _"Of course you will, sweetie. You will get to visit him at least once a year," she reassured. This made it even worse._

 _"Once a year?! Mom!" I exclaimed. A year is a long time! She looked back with an apologetic look._

 _"I'm sorry, honey, but I don't have the kind of money to send you any more than that."_

 _"Well, you wouldn't have to if you stayed together," I said harshly. She sighed, not knowing what to say and faced forward again, continuing to our new house._

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Taking a bite of my fresh mango, I stared out at the ocean. It truly was beautiful, no matter what situation we were in. After we get off this island though, I don't think I could visit one again too soon. After being stranded on one for nearly three days, the ocean scenery was so familiar that it felt like I've lived here my whole life.

"Hello," said a man's voice behind me. I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly looked behind me. I recognized the older man, but I've never met him before. I felt bad that I'd never taken the time to at least say hi to him.

"Hello," I replied, nodding at him.

"Do you mind if I sit?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Go ahead."

After a moment of silence, the man pointed out to the ocean that I had been staring at. "It's beautiful isn't it? It's been a while since I've been to a beach. I never took the time to." I nodded again.

"Yeah, it is. I just wish that we were on a beach that's not on a deserted island," I said, smiling. He smiled back.

"My name's John. John Locke," he introduced himself and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

"I'm Daniella Moretti. Dani," I greeted. He smiled again and after a couple minutes of no real conversation, he stood ready to leave.

"It was nice meeting you Dani. And, enjoy your tent," he added with a smile before leaving me there, mystified. Curiously, I strode to the place where I had been trying to set up my tent and stopped in shock. It was completed. John had made the tent for me?

Intrigued, I entered the tent. It wasn't that bad. I checked the sides and it appeared to be sturdy. I had to remember to thank John later. I lugged my suitcase and backpack into the tent. I opened my suitcase, pulling out my favorite blanket. I hugged it, letting the softness of it comfort me. I set it down and took out the airplane blanket. I stood up and fluffed it out, setting it gently on the ground.

As silly as it sounds, I also packed a few pillows into my luggage. I liked the feel of home, so I brought them with me from Italy to Australia. Who knew they would come in handy? Then again, who knew we would crash on a deserted island? I took a couple of the bigger pillows and placed them under the airplane blanket for extra comfort. I then took the smaller pillow and placed it at the top of the blanket. Finally, I put my favorite blanket on top of everything, creating a small bed for myself. I smiled, satisfied with my makeshift bed, and sat down.

I heard loud screams coming from Jack's medical tent. There was a man in there, the US Marshal apparently. Jack was trying to heal him but it didn't seem to be working, whatever he was doing. It had been going on for a while, and by now most of the survivors were wishing Jack could do something to make him shut up. I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to block out the screams.

Leaving my tent, I headed towards the nearest fire, and sat down. Nobody was around the fire, but that was okay with me. I didn't really feel like having people around me anyway; so of course, someone sat down next to me. Once again, so much for that. I half-heartedly smiled at the person who had joined me—it turned out to be Boone.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hello," I answered, somewhat genuinely, but mostly just trying to be nice.

"Why are you out here all by yourself?" he asked me. I shrugged, looking down at my hands.

"I don't really have any friends here, I guess," I joked and smiled. He smiled back. I'll admit, he did have an incredibly beautiful smile. I silently cursed when I realized a bit of heat had gone to my cheeks. This is really the last thing I needed.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked, seeming curious.

"I didn't really have anything better to do, so I just came out—"I started but he cut me off with a shake of his head.

"No, I mean, why are you on the island? Why were you on the plane and in Australia?" I corrected. I smiled slightly at him.

"I was doing an assignment for my studies. Writing an article on some guy that had died. He was the owner of a internationally successful company or something like that. Anyway, I had sent in the article when I was finished and I was about to go home, back to Italy, when they sent me a letter back, praising the article. They wanted me to get it published in LA. Tickets to 815 came with the letter and, here I am." I tossed a stick into the fire as if to emphasize my point.

"I bet they feel sorry now." He smiled a little.

"I bet they do," I agreed. "What about you? What were you doing in Australia?" As quickly as it had formed, his smile faded.

"It's not important," he replied, all of a sudden serious. I nodded and looked away into the ocean.

"Bad subject?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to push him too far.

"You can say that," he said after a moment's pause. I felt awkward, but I wanted to lighten the mood somehow. If only I knew how.

After a minute, we heard a gunshot and I jumped, grabbing onto the closest object as a natural reflex; of course, it was Boone's hand. I blushed and quickly pulled it away. I looked carefully over to see Boone's reaction, but he was too busy checking to see what was going on. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

From my view, I could see Sawyer strolling out of the medical tent, a gun in his hand and Jack ranting furiously at him, as well as Hurley standing behind Jack. They all froze at something and ran back into the tent. This place really was crazy. I shook my head and sighed again, bidding Boone a good-bye and returned to my tent, heading to sleep.

 **~o~**

 **I swear my other characters are actually involved in the story, I just tend to accidentally focus on Dani a lot because she's my favorite.**


	4. Finally, a Leader

**Thanks vinzgirl for reviewing!**

 **Seriously, I missed these characters so much I'm so glad I'm doing a LOST rewatch/story editing thing.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Lost or any characters in it.**

Chapter 4, Day 4-6

 _Callie_

Late in the night, I (and pretty much every other person on the island) woke to the sound of that dog barking and the loud clanging noises of metal. With frustration, I realized I had probably only been asleep for about an hour; my lack of medication was starting to get to me. I rolled my eyes exasperatedly, rubbed them and sat up, squinting my eyes at the light of the fire. I joined the large group of survivors currently forming.

I crossed my arms and tiredly watched as Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Charlie headed into the fuselage. There was a moment of silence where everyone waited curiously for the three of them to emerge; and then came the screams. I bolted to the safety of my tent, not bothering to see what it was that was making weird grunting sounds. It sounded like a pig to me.

I peeked out from my tent a few seconds later to see _whatever_ it was run into the jungle. I hopped out, feeling safe once again.

"They're gone," Sayid announced and Dani said something in her national language. Italian, I'm pretty sure.

I distinctly heard Locke say, "Boars."

"Oh great, another animal we have to deal with. As if a freaking polar bear wasn't enough," I muttered to myself, rolling my eyes again. I sighed; well I wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight.

I stayed with Jack, Kate and Sayid while Jack fixed up a deep scratch Charlie had gotten from the boars. I was starting to realize that the adults didn't really mind having me there. They had gotten used to the fact that if I wanted to do something, I was going to do it. No questions asked. I appreciated the fact that they weren't treating me like a little kid, or a fragile person that needed to be protected. I had my fair share of that elsewhere, especially in school.

"The boars were looking to feed," Jack spoke slowly. "We have to get rid of the bodies."

"Bury them? There's a whole bunch of them," questioned Charlie. Sayid nodded.

Sayid confirmed this as well, stating how hard digging would be without shovels. Jack shook his head though. "No, not bury. We need to burn them," he replied plainly. The rest of us stared at him for a second, shocked. I shook my head as well.

"We can't burn them!" I refused.

"They're people," Kate stated incredulously.

"I know they're people, Kate," Jack responded impatiently.

"Burning the remains? They deserve better than that," said Sayid.

"Better than what? Being eaten by wild animals? Because that's what's going to happen. Any bodies we bury are not going to stay buried for very long. Look, I know this seems harsh, but that fuselage in the sun—it's not about what they deserve," intervened Jack. "They're gone, and we're not."

I admit he had a point, but it just seemed so… insensitive to the people that died. They didn't deserved to just be burned, with not even a simple funeral to remember them by. And if we ever got rescued, how were we to explain to families that we just _burned_ their loved ones bodies? I know didn't want that for my mom.

"What you say may be true, but for us to decide how these people are laid to rest—it's not right. No regard for their wishes? Their religions?"

"We don't have time to sort out everybody's god," argued Jack.

"Really, last I heard we were positively made of time," commented Charlie ruefully.

"Look, I'm not happy about it either," Jack started, "but we crashed a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place. It's been four days, no one's come. Tomorrow morning we need everyone to start gathering up wood, dried brush, and turn that fuselage into a furnace. We'll wait until the sun goes down tomorrow night before we start the fire."

Jack was about to leave, but I stopped him. "Wait, Jack," I said. He turned back to me. "If you must, burn the other bodies, but… I'm burying my mom. It's what she would have wanted, no matter the condition." Jack stared at my pleading face for a moment. "Please." I glanced back at Charlie for support, and he nodded at Jack as well.

"Alright. But just her. The rest need to be burned," Jack agreed finally. I smiled slightly and nodded in thanks. I sat back down next to Charlie when Jack left.

"If he's so eager to burn the bodies why are we waiting until sundown?" Charlie asked Kate.

"He's hoping someone will see it," Kate answered.

 _Flashback_

 _Anna bit her lip as she waited in line at her new school's office. She was sixteen years old and on her own, having run away from her home in Manchester, England to Los Angeles, California. She could have been terrified of having to live on her own, or guilty for leaving her little brothers that she adored in favor of this new life. But rather, she was excited. Excited to start a new life, excited to be away from the parents she despised. She approached the front counter when it was her turn and smiled uncomfortably at the office woman._

 _"Um, Faith Thompson?" Anna told her. She searched through the files on the computer in front of her and hastily printed out a schedule. She handed it to Anna._

 _"Have a nice first day, Miss Thompson," she said dully. Anna nodded again and exited the office quickly. She examined her schedule closely as she walked, making sure she knew where her first class was. She was knocked backwards as she collided with somebody._

 _"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she apologized to whoever it was she knocked into._

 _"No problem. Here, let me help you," a male voice said. She saw the guy bend down and pick up a couple of books for her. Anna collected the rest and stood as he did. She put the books back in her pack and smiled at the guy who helped her off the ground. She was shocked at how handsome he was._

 _"New I'm guessing?" the guy said, his blue eyes twinkling slightly under his dirty blonde hair. Anna nodded nervously. "And British?" Anna chuckled timidly._

 _"Yeah, I just moved here," she replied. "I'm An—Faith. F-Faith Thompson." He smiled at her calmly._

 _"I'm Sam Georgeston. Welcome to the big ol' USA, LA, and the not so big school that happens to be in it," he greeted nonchalantly. Anna smiled back and nodded._

 _"Thanks."_

 _"See you around," Sam said and walked away, smirking back at her._

 _"Yeah, see you around," Anna agreed, knowing full well that he was out of hearing range._

 _Dani_

I helped the best I could to gather firewood for the memorial service tonight. It originally wasn't supposed to be anything special, but Claire had the wonderful idea to read off names she collected from IDs and passports in the wreckage. I was against the idea of burning the bodies, but there was nothing I could to about it.

Not too far away, I heard Sawyer typically get into a fight with someone, Hurley to be specific. I rolled my eyes and blocked out the fight. "Non puoi andare d'accordo con nessuno***?" I said to myself in Italian.

I entered in on the group where Sawyer and Hurley had just been fighting. John Locke was making a speech about hunting. He wanted to hunt for the boar. He had knives; a _huge_ selection of them. That scared me a little. I didn't exactly want to be a part of this hunt for food, so I left the group, heading back to my own tent.

I don't think I've ever felt like this much of a loner. While I'm not exactly an extrovert, I still loved being around people and enjoying the company of others. Here, I had absolutely no one to talk to, since everyone was off exploring, or contributing, or talking to somebody else. I almost reconsidered not going on that boar hunt just to actually be around other people. I shook my head silently and went back outside. Three blondes emerging from the fuselage caught my eye. Charlie and Callie carried a dead blonde woman out of the wrecked plane and off to a small sand clearing. They were going to bury her.

Impulsively, I got up and headed towards them. "Do you need any help?" I asked them. "You know, with digging or anything?" They both looked at me skeptically.

"Uh, yeah sure," Charlie replied. Callie was a little hesitant but nodded. They were using scraps of metal and broken tree branches to dig a hole. I picked up one of the scraps and helped them.

"So, who was she?" I asked politely, not wanting to offend either. Callie remained silent, her expression hard as stone.

"Her name was Anna. She was my sister, her mother," Charlie responded wearily. I ruefully nodded, wishing I hadn't said anything.

"I'm sorry," I added sympathetically. Charlie smiled back at me sadly. Callie never looked up as she dug. The hole was nearly finished when we started speaking again.

"Your name is Dani right?" Charlie asked me. I looked up, surprised at the sound of a voice again.

"Yes, that's me," I answered, looking back down so I didn't fall in the hole.

"Thought so. How old are you? You look pretty young," he asked.

"I'm twenty-one," I replied.

"Really? You look younger than that," he said, back to concentrating on digging the rest of the hole. I smiled slightly and nodded. "You're from Italy, right?" I nodded again and finished digging the rest of the hole. I put my scrap of metal aside and examined the scratches on my hand.

Callie took one last look at her mother and sighed, lifting her up along with Charlie and placing her gently into the grave. They said a few words about her sadly and nostalgically, and stuck a grave marker with her name on it. I looked up at Callie when she spoke. She looked upset, but her expression was still hard and cold. We all walked away when Anna Pace was completely buried.

Callie hadn't acknowledged me the whole time I had been there, but at last she walked up to me. "Hey, thanks," she said, with a hint of a forced smile on her face. I returned the smile and nodded.

We turned out to get food after all. Locke came back, carrying a large boar well over two hundred pounds. Come sundown, I headed down to the fuselage with Claire, helping her carry some of the passports and licenses. One of the survivors placed a piece of burning wood under the fuselage, and the plane went up in flames, creating sort of a giant bonfire. Luckily, we couldn't smell any of the bodies burning.

Boone stood to one side of Claire, holding a torch, and Hurley stood on the other side of her. She read the names off of the identifications, and I took the chance to look around at the group. It's amazing how a group of total strangers could come together like this, bowing their heads respectfully as Claire recited the names. I found Sun and I smiled at her, to which she smiled back. Callie stood next to me, but I could not find Charlie. He didn't appear until later, standing next to Kate.

After the service was over and the fuselage was almost gone, I watched people leave. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned around to meet Boone's blue eyes.

"I'll walk you back to your tent if you want," he offered kindly. I was surprised, but I grinned slowly. It was only when we started walking when I began to wonder why he was doing this. I glanced back only to see his sister near the place where they stayed glaring as us. Well, particularly me.

Looking forward again, I noticed we were pretty close to my tent. I sighed and looked up at Boone once again. "Why are you walking me to my tent?"

He glimpsed at me once and shrugged, "I never see you with anybody, so I just thought that you'd want company or something."

"Thank you. That was nice of you," I praised, but quickly looked back at Shannon again. She had looked away by now, but she did not appear pleased. "But, uh, what about your sister?"

Boone shrugged again and after a moment's pause, replied, "Step-sister. And as surprising as it is, she can handle herself." He smiled slightly for a second time, but he flinched as he heard Shannon call his name. He rolled his eyes. "Well, at least for five minutes she can. I better go." Before leaving, he took my hand and kissed the back of it before retreating to his sister's side like usual.

I stubbornly willed the heat to leave my cheeks and I stepped into my tent. But now I was extremely confused. Shannon was his step-sister, as in not his _real sister_ , and I finally understood the big deal about that. But why was he acting this way around me if he was in love with Shannon?

 _Flashback_

 _15 year old Dani_

 _I stared out the window in admiration as the plane came to a stop. I was home. "Welcome to the Lamezia Terme Airport in Calabria, Italy. We hope you enjoyed your flight and that you come back and see us again!" said the flight attendant over the intercom. I stood and grabbed my travel bag. My legs were stiff from the long flight and rather cold since I was wearing black shorts._

 _Eagerly, I stepped near the front of the line and eventually got off the plane. My face broke into a smile and I ran towards my father. He looked completely different from my mother; they had the whole biracial couple thing going on. My father was pale, dark haired and blue eyed. I ran into his arms and he spun me around a couple times. My gosh, I missed him._

 _"It's about time you got here. I missed you," he said, speaking Italian. I could now speak English, and I usually had to being in America, so it felt good to speak my first language again._

 _"I missed you too, dad," I replied, holding back my tears. I seemed I had been crying a lot since my mom's death. She had brain cancer and had died two weeks ago. That meant I got to live with my only remaining family member, my dad._

 _"How was the flight?" he asked, walking out of the airport with my luggage._

 _"Long," I answered._

 _"Only 12 hours," my dad commented. I laughed._

 _"Only."_

 _"Well can you put up with another hour in the car?"_

 _I smiled and nodded. "Anything to get home." And off we went to my hometown of Cosenza, Italy._

 _Callie_

I kicked a mango tree angrily, hoping for the fifteenth time that fruit would fall to the ground. It never did. I cried out in frustration and gave up. I was starting to overreact to little things, and my moods were becoming unbalanced and unpredictable at times, indicating that the last dosages of my medication were wearing off. It was scaring me, because I knew how bad I could get. Turning around, I headed back to the beach and almost tripped over something on the ground… a mango. I glared at it, but picked it up and started eating.

The days dragged on, slowly, dully, and quite boringly. It was now day 6 on the island. I suddenly heard yelling that came from down on the beach. By the time I arrived, several people had already gathered at the shoreline and were pointing towards the water. There was what looked like two people out there. Someone thrashing around and another swimming towards her. No wait; there was another… who was starting to drown!

"What happened?" I asked, approaching Charlie.

"There's someone drowning out there. Jack went to help her," Charlie explained frantically. We all watched as Jack frantically, hoping that no one would die today. How's that for positivity. Finally, we saw Jack swimming back, pulling someone along with him. But there was still another person out there.

Kate and Charlie rushed to Jack when he and the man he was pulling with him reached the beach. Jack rushed right back in, leaving the person he had saved on the shore. It was Boone. Jack swam back out, back into the cold ocean, but it was for nothing. Whoever was out there before, well… not anymore.

I didn't have much to do, so I just did what everyone else seemed to do. Sit around and stare at a something. God, I was so bored. I saw Claire, my new friend, and Kate sitting together and sorting through clothes it looked like. I shrugged and got up again.

"Hey, Claire, Kate," I greeted sitting down near them. The women smiled at me.

"Hi, Callie," Claire responded.

"What're you doing?" I asked curiously.

"We're sorting through the clothes. You can help if you want to," Kate offered. "This pile is the clothes we can use, and the other is clothes that are not." I nodded and took a green t-shirt from the unsorted pile.

"Let me guess, you're a Libra?" Claire asked, seemingly randomly. I looked up surprised.

"Uh, actually, yeah. How'd you know?" I answered thoughtfully. Kate smiled.

"I guess you really do understand astrology," she mused. I smirked and continued sorting. I looked out at the ocean where that one woman had died. Boone was still sitting there, staring out at the ocean. I narrowed my eyes, thinking about how fragile our lives were, and how easy it was to die out here. Suddenly feeling weary, looked back down at the shirt in my hands and dropped it into the useable pile.

 _Flashback_

 _2 year old Callie_

 _Anna couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all they had gone through, he was just leaving her. After three years together and having a child, he was just packing and moving to Australia, right out of the blue._

 _"You're just leaving?! Just like that!" she shouted at her boyfriend, Sam. Sam sighed irritably._

 _"Look, I'm sorry, Anna, but I just… I need to go," he replied weakly. Anna shook her head._

 _"What happened to we're in this together? What happened to we'll always be together? I thought I knew you!" Anna yelled. Sam looked pure frustrated now._

 _"I've changed! You've changed! Everyone changes! And you thought you knew me? I didn't even know your actual_ name _until last year!" Sam retorted._

 _"You know what, just leave. Go do whatever the fuck you want to. Go get your drugs and go to your parties, just get_ the fuck _out of my life," Anna stated angrily. Sam stared at her testily for a minute. "Now!" He grabbed his bag and headed right past her and out the door. Anna stared at the wall, in a state of shock of what had just happened to her. She heard crying from the other room._

 _Picking up her two year old daughter, Anna felt warm tears drip down her cheeks. Her daughter calmed down instantly, but she kept crying silently. "We'll be alright, Callie, we'll be alright."_

 _Dani_

"Are you alright?" I asked, sitting down next to Boone. He hadn't stopped staring out into the ocean since this morning, and even though I didn't know him that well, it worried me. I thought that maybe he could use a little company. When he didn't answer or really even acknowledged that I was there, I went on. "Look, it wasn't your fault what happened to that girl—"

"I could have made it back," he interrupted, still staring at the same place. I stared back at him for a couple seconds. I shook my head slowly.

"You were drowning, Boone," I countered. I didn't want to upset him, but he needed to snap out of it. "If Jack hadn't—"

He cut me off once again. "Jack was just trying to be a hero. If he was truly a hero, he would have left me and saved her. I was fine." His tone was harsh and bitter, but I knew it was directed toward Jack and not me. "Who made Jack our leader anyway?"

I scoffed humorlessly before answering. "No one really. It was more by default." He didn't answer, but I could have sworn I saw at least a glint of regret flash in his eyes when I said that. We sat in silence for a while staring out at the waves.

I sighed after a while of just sitting there and started to get up. "Well, bye," I said awkwardly and started to leave. To my surprise, I saw Boone walk pass me, taking his eyes away from the ocean for the first time that day.

"Where are you going?" I spoke. He didn't stop, but he did answer me.

"To find Jack." I stopped in my tracks and watch with furrowed eyebrows as he headed down the beach. I watched him leave, heaving a sigh. The only thing I wanted now was my own home. Not this stupid beach filled with over forty strangers.

Home, that's all I wanted.

Callie

I was worried sick about Claire. She had passed out randomly when I was talking to her. She had woken up, but there was no water to give to her. Someone had stolen the rest of the water. No one knew for sure who had taken them, but several people suspected Sawyer. Apparently, Sayid had already 'spoken' to him and he didn't have it. Who else would take the camp's only water supply? And where the hell was Jack?

I sat next to Claire at later in the afternoon (who really new what time it was?), patiently waiting for her to wake up. I heard her groan silently and her head turned towards me. Her eyes opened slowly and I smiled genially at her. She smiled back, somewhat weakly.

"How do you feel, Claire?" I asked her. I took her a minute to think, but she eventually answered me.

"I'm all right, I think. I feel a little dizzy though… and thirsty," she replied groggily.

"Charlie's getting water. Any that we can find… besides from the ocean. I can't imagine that'd taste too good," I reassured her. She chuckled quietly. "The rest are hunting down the 'criminal' that took the water. So, really it's ordinary day here on the mysterious island." She laughed again, but didn't say anything.

She ultimately fell asleep again and, being bored, I wandered around some more. God, I hate this place. Absolutely nothing to do.

That night, we sat in our normal groups (or cliques, I guess, if you wanted to look at it that way) around separate fires. I was next to a resting Claire, and trying to fight off the drowsiness that was over coming me. I used to stay up so much later than this. I don't understand why I couldn't on this island. I wasn't really paying attention to my surroundings until I saw someone fall to the ground. Once again, it was Boone.

"Here's your thief," I heard Charlie declare angrily. I stood up, interested, as Charlie and Michael stared down at Boone, who had his face pressed into the sand. I glanced over at Claire, who looked a little concerned and shocked.

"Where did he hide it?" asked Michael. I stormed over to where my uncle and Michael were standing, anger washing over me. Sure, Boone was a lot older than me; doesn't mean that I wouldn't kick his ass if I get the chance.

" _You_ took the water?" I questioned incredulously.

"This wanker had three bottles on him. Why'd you do it, pretty boy, eh?" Charlie demanded, pushing Boone backwards. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dani step forward; looking worried to where the fight was going.

"It was just sitting in—it was just sitting in the tent, and Jack just took off," Boone explained, almost sounding frantic. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"So you thought you'd, what? Guard it? Without letting anyone know? Gee, great plan, dude," I mocked, my voice rising by the word.

"Claire could have died!" Charlie cried.

"I tried to give her some sooner, but it just got out of hand. No one would have understood," Boone retorted, his voice rising slightly. I rolled my eyes and gritted my teeth. I already felt way passed due to lash out; but I tried to calm myself down, knowing that if I let myself get too angry, it would not turn out good. Without my medications, it had been increasingly difficult to control my moods, and it was just getting worse.

"Someone had to take responsibility for it. It would have never lasted." I have to admit, I was glad when Charlie pushed Boone once more, although I heard Dani, Claire and several others gasp. The scuffle began again. Sayid stepped in as did a few other men, trying to pull the two apart.

"Leave him alone," Jack said, stepping forward in the crowd. My eyes only narrowed more when he all of a sudden appeared. He had been gone the whole day, and quite frankly, I was not happy with him at all. We'd already claimed him as our unofficial leader, and with him gone… it was almost like we were goners. He reached out a hand and pulled Boone to his feet.

"Well, how nice of you to show up!" I spat sarcastically. My voice had a sharp edge to it. _Calm down, calm down, calm down_. _Before you say something you regret._ Jack gave me a weary glance and continued to what he was saying.

"It's been 6 days and we're all still waiting; waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here.

"Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to go, come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And God knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."

I didn't look at Jack as I listened to his speech, but I remained silent along with everyone else. No one knew what to say. Well, what do you know? Jack pulled through as a leader after all. It doesn't mean I was going to all of a sudden start liking him, because to be honest, I never really did; but he had gained my respect. He was right.

I helped the best I could with the water situation, and after I was done, I just hung out like I always did. I had to sometimes remind even myself that I was only fourteen (almost fifteen, thank you). Come to think of it, I was the youngest person here besides Walt. People didn't seem to think about my age anymore and seemed to treat me more like an adult than anything, which I was thankful for.

I saw Boone sitting by himself, and I briefly felt bad for what I said to him; _briefly._ "So, how does it feel?" I heard Sawyer say smugly.

"How does what feel?" Boone replied impartially.

"Taking my place at the top of everyone's most hated list. Sucks, don't it?" Sawyer mocked, grinning impishly. I rolled my eyes and looked over at him.

"Sawyer," I started. He looked up at me, a snide grin still on his face. "Shut up." His grin merely widened.

"You're the one to talk, Lioness," he remarked. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Is that my new nickname?"

"What can I say?" he answered cheekily, still grinning. "You've got quite a temper there."

I smirked, looking slightly wistful. "Yeah… I know," I said slowly. I stared into the fire, the traces of humor in my face fading. So, everyone had noticed my temper issues. But they didn't know how bad it could get.

They didn't know the half of it.

~o~

***Italian translation: "Can you not get along with anybody?"  
(I don't speak Italian so sorry if its off, blame google translate)


	5. We All Have Our Own Problems

Chapter 5, Day 7-8

 _Dani_

I jumped when I heard the screams of a few people near the surface of the ocean. Worriedly, I stood up to see what the commotion was, and ran towards it when I took in the conflict of the day. Sun's husband was randomly beating up Michael; and trying to drown him! I put my hands over my mouth as punch after punch was thrown.

Both Sun and Walt screamed for Jin to stop, but he didn't. I hurried to the side when I saw Sawyer and Sayid racing towards them and broke the fight up; actually, more like tackled the fight apart. I moved closer to Sun, trying to stay as far out of the way as possible.

"Sun, what happened?" I asked her in Korean. She didn't reply as she watched her husband being handcuffed to a part of the plane. Sayid asked too, but she didn't understand him. Lastly, he questioned Michael.

"I'm getting tired of saying this," Michael started, after he had explained a few times already. "I was just walking the beach with my son, and all of the sudden this dude is all up on me. I didn't do anything."

"Shut up!" Jin yelled in Korean. Sun and I shared a glance, while the rest watched the scene with tense stares.

"Surely there must be something you're not telling us," Sayid reasoned. I switched my attention towards Michael, who looked quite frustrated.

"Surely?" Michael repeated. "Where are you from, man?"

"Tikrit," Sayid replied stiffly. "Iraq."

"Okay. I don't know how it is in Iraq, but in the United States of America where I'm from, Korean people don't like black people. Did you know that?" I raised my eyebrow at him, my fury at the comment overcoming my shyness.

"Really?" I stepped forward, challenging Michael angrily. "Because they seem to like me just fine!"

"Man, you're from like, Italy or something. You ain't from America, you don't know what it's like there!"

I crossed my arms, glaring him down. "I lived in America for six years, I never had any of the problems in which you speak. I suggest you drop it."

"You know what, whatever. He obviously has something against me. So maybe you ought to talk to him," Michael continued, dismissing my comments and pointing at Jin.

"It's because of the watch," Sun attempted to explain, gesturing to her wrist. What? Even I was confused now, which is why I didn't say anything.

"The cuffs stay on," Sayid told her loudly, as if she'd understand if he spoke louder.

"A little louder, Omar, maybe she'll understand you," Sawyer commented, voicing my opinion. I don't really know why I wasn't acting as the translator. Maybe it was just because I was confused myself. Why would a watch cause a problem like this? I decided to keep my mouth shut until I found out more.

"Guys, that Chinese dude is going to get pretty crispy out here," Hurley intervened. "How long are you going to keep him tied down like that?"

"He tried to kill Michael. We all saw it. The cuffs stay on until we know why."

I shot another glance at Sun and said, "Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding. Look, whatever the problem is, it has something to do with a watch."

"Nobody would try to kill someone over a watch," Michael replied harshly. "Just tell your little Korean buddies over there to stay away from me and my boy." I crossed my arms, narrowed my eyes, and watched Michael and Walt walk away, feeling a tinge of dislike for the man and pity for his son.

"Maybe this _is_ all a misunderstanding, but until we know for sure, he's not going anywhere," Sayid told me, much more kindly. I looked away and nodded. Glancing one last time at Sun, I walked away.

~o~

Later on in the afternoon, I found Sun again. This time she was alone. I wanted to talk to her and find out what she knew, so this whole new problem could just be solved and over with. It's interesting what can happen when you put a heavily diverse group like us together—it seemed like we had nothing but problems in the mere week we had been here.

"Sun!" I called out to her. She looked over and upon noticing me, waited until I met up with her. "Can I talk to you?"

"Is it about what happened earlier today?" she asked. I nodded.

"I just want to know if you knew why Jin attacked Michael. There are too many problems on this island already. I want this one to be over with," I explained to her. Reluctantly, she looked around the area, seemingly checking for anyone around. She then took me deeper into the forest so that we were away from the beach.

"It was the watch." My eyes widened. Sun just spoke in… English.

"Sun, you can… you can speak English?" I asked her astonished, now speaking English as well.

"Yes," Sun replied.

"W-why didn't you mention this before?"

"My husband doesn't know, Dani. And he can't find out." _But why?_ I wanted to ask, but considered better of it. I looked at her for a minute before asking my next question.

"Am I the only one who knows this? Here, I mean?" Sun nodded once again.

"I trust you. Please don't tell anyone," she practically begged. Automatically, I nodded. Sun was my friend—possibly my closest here—and I wasn't going to tell anyone if she didn't want me to.

"Why did Jin attack Michael over a watch?" I asked her.

"The watched belonged to my father. Protecting it is a question of honor," she explained. I nodded understandingly.

"And so when Michael took it, he took it as an insult even though Michael didn't know," I finished, to which Sun nodded in confirmation. "Well, I guess I'll have to go explain this to them then. It's a good thing I know Korean, Jin won't have to find out how you told me." Sun smiled thankfully at me and we walked back to the beach together. "So when did you learn English?"

"I started taking lessons about a year ago. It's sort of a long story." She paused and I caught onto a bit of sadness in her voice, but I didn't question her about it. "When did you learn Korean?"

"When I was sixteen," I responded. "Learning English inspired a love of languages for me. So after I became fluent in English and French, I wanted to add an Asian language to the list and ended up choosing Korean."

I stopped when I saw Michael. Bidding Sun a quick goodbye, I hastily caught up to him. "Michael!" He turned back when he heard his name and rolled his eyes when he saw me. My dislike for him boiled up briefly, but I pushed it aside.

"What now?" he said.

"It was because of that watch," I told him, gesturing towards the gold watch on his wrist.

"What?"

"The reason Jin attacked you," I replied, annoyed. "It was because of the watch you are wearing."

"The watch?" he questioned incredulously. "He tried to kill me over a watch?"

"Sun said that it belonged to her father and that it protecting it was a question of honor for him," I clarified. He scoffed.

"Unbelievable," he remarked. I attempted to swallow down my annoyance, but it didn't really work.

"I'm just telling you what Sun told me, alright," I snapped and stalked off before I got too frustrated. There was something about him that just really bothered me, and I think it went past the ignorant racist comments he made earlier. Well, at least the conflict might be solved now. Maybe.

~o~

When Jack and Kate had finally returned from their trip up to the caves, Jack announced that he was taking some people to live up there. I considered it, but ended up refusing. We needed to be on the beach if rescue were to come. They would need to see us.

Well, needless to say, once the problem between Michael and Jin had been at least somewhat solved, Jin and Sun left for the caves. And Sun just happened to be my closest friend here. So now I felt like even more of a loner than before. At least Boone stayed…

I regretted that thought, but shook it off. Boone was my friend. It was fine for me to be glad he was staying at the beach. But part of me felt glad not because he was my friend, but because… oh, I don't even know. What did I really think about him? Well, he was cute and funny, and had the best smile. He made me smile whenever I saw him, even if his weird and moody attitudes did get on my nerves. I sighed. I was never that good at interpreting feelings, even if they were my own. Whatever, I guess time would tell.

"Hey," I greeted as I plopped down next to him by the fire. This was clearly the beginning of all our conversations by now. He glanced over and nodded at me.

"Hey," he answered. He looked away from me and I watched as the dancing fire reflected in his blue eyes.

"So, the caves. Planning to go anytime soon?" I asked curiously and silently hoped he would say no. I got my wish as he shook his head.

"Nope. What chance of rescue do we have there?" he replied, voicing my exact opinion. He looked back at me, with an impassive expression. "You?" I shook my head as well.

"Not in my plans," I answered. He briefly half-smirked.

"Good." He quickly glanced away, and my lips twitched into a smile on their own accord. He was glad I was staying.

 _Snap out of it, Dani_! I scolded myself. _Don't you remember how your last relationship worked out?_

My last relationship ended when I was 19. We had dated for three years and I was irrevocably in love. Or so I thought. It ended pretty badly, and I hadn't dated anyone since. I hadn't even come close because the thought of getting hurt like that again… it terrified me. I didn't want to like Boone. I didn't want to get close to him, I didn't want to find out if he would hurt me.

I tried to convince myself that I was lonely and I could just think Boone was cute and liked him because he's nice to me. Yeah, that's it. Plus, we're eventually getting rescued. Once we leave, we're just going to go separate ways and that's it. I won't see him again. As much as I tried to convince myself that was a good thing, I filled with dread at the thought.

I had only known him for a week, and yet I liked Boone. I liked Boone a lot. And I hated myself for it.

 _~o~_

 _Callie_

 _Flashback_

 _"Miss Georgeston?"_

 _"It's Pace. My last name is Pace."_

 _The principal's assistant flashed an irritated look at me. "Until it says it legally on file, you are to be referred as Miss Georgeston." I narrowed my eyes. "Your mother is here. Come in the office, please." I sighed and pushed myself out of my chair. Detentions, parent-teacher conferences; this was all usual._

 _Without looking at her, I took a seat next to my mother and greeted the principal in a not-so-polite manner. The principal, no surprise, shot a warning look at me. I smirked. I wasn't really one for rule-following. "Ms. Pace, as you know, Callie has been acting up lately. We've called you here today because she recently showed extreme violence to a fellow student. She got to the point where she gave the student a black eye and several bruised parts of the skin. Any explanation, Miss Georgeston?"_

 _"One, its Pace. Two, he was asking for it," I replied nonchalantly with a shrug of my shoulder. My mom looked over at me with her eyebrows raised._

 _"Callie…" she started in a warning tone._

 _"What? He made me angry! So… I punched him; over, and over, and over," I cried in an pseudo innocent voice. The principal sighed and leaned closer to my mom._

 _"Ms. Pace, has Callie taken her medications recently?" she spoke quietly, as if I wasn't even there. I rolled my eyes and glared at her. I hated that woman so much. She treated me like I was a mental patient, or like a criminal._

 _"… No. No, she hasn't," my mom replied reluctantly. She didn't like the principal either._

 _"Well, I suggest you give her some, before her acts are enough to get her expelled. Thanks for coming," the principal said strictly with an icy tone to her voice. As we were about to leave, she added," Oh, and Miss Georgeston, another week of detention."_

 _I smiled. "Fantastic!" I exclaimed mockingly, and rolled my eyes when I turned around._

 _Out in the parking lot, my mother finally started to speak to me. "Callie, you have to stop doing stuff like this. You're going to end up getting expelled. Or worse; we both have to keep seeing that bloody horrible woman for another 5 months until you graduate middle school." I smirked._

 _"That_ is _worse," I commented. My mom turned to face me._

 _"I know it can be hard for you, but you can't let this disorder control what you do," my mom said calmly. I crossed my arms._

 _"It doesn't!" I responded defensively. My mom raised her eyebrows again._

 _"Cal, you given two kids broken noses and now another with a black eye!"_

 _"Like I said, they were all asking for it! That one girl; she said that I needed to stop dressing like a boy! She called me a he! I was even wearing makeup that day," I exclaimed dramatically. My mom's lip almost turned upward, but she maintained a semi-serious expression._

 _"At least just try to get through the next five months without causing anymore trouble. Please; for me. And take your medications, or I'll force you to," she pleaded. She was never strict with me, but I knew she was serious this time. A flash of red caught my eye, and I screamed once I caught sight of the source—I looked right into the white eyes of a lifeless body. A warm substance trickled down my arms, and I started to thrash around hysterically, desperately trying to shake off the blood._

 _"Callie! CALLIE!"_

 _I snapped back to reality, tears streaming down my cheeks. My mom's hands gripped at my shoulders as she looked down at me concerned. I was breathing heavily, and started to glance around, searching for what I had just seen. "Did—did you see any of that? T-there was blood a-and…"_

 _My mom stared down at me lovingly, but still worried. "Hallucinations… you really haven't been taking your meds," she spoke softly, brushing my messy hair out of my face. "You know those can get bad, Cal." I sighed and ran a hand through my blonde hair._

 _"Fine, I'll take them. And I won't get into anymore trouble. At least until the end of eighth grade. Oh, and I_ need _to change my last name to yours. Did you know that two of the guys in DriveShaft have the last name Pace? I'd have the same last name as two guys in my favorite band! Plus, I refuse to go by that bastard's last name anymore! I mean, what an idiot! He gets himself locked up for all those ridiculous drug charges and then robbery. Who would do drugs anyway? They're so disgusting! Only idiots mess up their life like that! Stupid druggies…"_

 _My mom rubbed her temples, and I continued much slower and more aware. "Right, racing thoughts. Another symptom. I'll shut up." I managed to stay quiet for about a good two minutes as we drove away from the school. "So… when can I get my last name changed to Pace?"_

 _~o~_

I rubbed my exhausted eyes again. I hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and I was cranky, _and_ I couldn't find my meds which made me sound like a freaking crazy person. Jack and his leader complex thing still pissed me off and since I'd moved up to the beach with Charlie, I had to remain within living distance of him. I needed to find my medications; like now.

"Hey, Callie. You feeling alright?" I took my hand away from my eyes and met Charlie's. He held his guitar in one hand and he looked rather sweaty. I slapped my hands back over my eyes.

"I'm just perfect," I responded, failing at trying to sound somewhat decent.

"Are you sure? You don't look to good." I felt a spark of irritation flash through me and I uncovered my eyes again, glowering at him.

"Well, you know what; you don't look too good either. I'm fine. So just leave me alone," I snapped, shooting up from my resting spot against a tree. I rapidly started down the path to the beach, not bothering to take the time to feel bad for what I said to my uncle. I didn't care. I angrily hit branches beside, knocking them out of my way. I knew where I could find my medicine.

Sawyer.

I paused half-way to the beach and clutched my head. I had a horrible headache from the lack of sleep and the constant persistent thoughts, and I felt drowsy and… pissed off. I jumped when a noise surrounded me; one single noise. I was hearing whispers.

I slapped my head and rubbed my temples again, thinking it was all in my head. But I still heard them. I glanced all around me. No one was with me or near me, yet all these voices… they were everywhere.

"Show yourself! I'm not in the mood!" I yelled. The whispers finally stopped, but I continued to look around me. My eyes rested on a figure, standing a few yards away from me in the trees. A blonde woman maybe? As I stepped closer, going deeper into the jungle, I could start to make out the figure. I gasped when I got close enough.

"M-Mom?"

The figure of my mother flashed her beautiful smile at me. My breathing became deeper and tears spilled down my eyes. She wasn't real; she was a hallucination. I was just delusional. Yeah, that's it; delusional. It's really kind of sad when you really hope that all you are is crazy. I squeezed my eyes shut for almost a full minute. When I opened them again; she was gone. Just like I expected.

Still shaken up, I stalked down the rest of the path and sighed in relief when I took my first step onto the smooth beach sand. It appeared to be sometime in the afternoon. It was hard to tell down at the caves with all the trees in the way and such. I scanned the beach camp and took notice of the lack of people there. Why was there almost nobody here?

I shrugged it off and raced to Sawyer's tent, doing a quick 360 degree check. Sawyer wasn't here either guarding his stash like usual. Odd. I entered the crowded tent and began my search. I began to grow frustrated when one thing after another was the wrong thing. Out of such exasperation, I picked up a magazine and hurled it against the tent wall. I let out several deep breaths, nearly breaking down in tears.

"You know…" I jumped at the deep voice. "…This could be considered breaking and entering."

I gritted my teeth and stood, gathering up my full height—and realizing it wasn't much compared to Sawyer's height, but it was the thought that counts. "Where is it?" I growled.

"Gonna have to be more specific, Lioness."

"Your medicine stash or—or, _pill bottles!_ _Any_ pill bottles!

Sawyer quirked an eyebrow. "Don't ya think you're a little young to start pill popping, I mean. No judgement, but…"

I rolled my eyes, frustrated and about ready to snap, until I spotted a glimpse of orange and white. I darted for the pile, ignoring Sawyer's protests. "Hey come on! That's my stuff!" I saw my name and grabbed the orange bottle, holding it to Sawyer's face.

"Really? Uh, Callie J. Georgeston," I read off the bottle. "Huh, that sounds like me! Amazing right?"

Sawyer narrowed his eyes at the bottle, and read, "Lithium? Hold up, little girl, ain't that used for…" he trailed off, and I looked away awkwardly, hiding the bottle against my side. I felt a spark of shame, but covered it up by pretending I was annoyed.

"Just don't tell anyone, alright?" The words came out a lot softer than I intended them to be, and I began to walk off, shoving past the Southerner.

"Hey."

I turned around, preparing myself for whatever he had to say about me. I was used to it by now. Instead, he picked up another bottle, a wide white one, and handed it to me. "It's for sleep. I know you've been having a bit o' trouble."

I was speechless for a moment, surprised by his sudden kindness. I whispered, "Thanks," to him and started to head back to the caves, feeling grateful.

I was nervous still while walking through the jungle after what I saw before. I might have a break down if I saw her again. I made it back without an incident and saw where all the people from the beach went. They were at the caves, moving a bunch of rocks away from well, a cave entrance. I looked on curiously as the dirt covered survivors passed boulder after boulder onto one another, clearing just one more out of the way each time.

"What's going on?" I asked when I was in full view of everyone.

"It's Jack. He got caught in the cave," Hurley answered me, lifting a rock into a pile. "Charlie went down to help him." My eyes widened. Charlie was trapped in a cave, possibly injured and running out of oxygen as we speak.

"Charlie went down there? Is he alright?" I questioned worriedly. I felt awful about what I said before. I didn't want that to be the last thing I said to him. I was about to rant to them how furious I was that they let him go down there, but…

"Hey, guys. It's the doctor," Walt told us. My head snapped around. There and more dirty than everyone else was a smiling Jack and Charlie, emerging from the plants. I breathed a sigh of relief and ran to my uncle, hugging him.

"Please never go down in blockaded caves again. It's not safe," I scolded gratefully. He laughed.

"I saved Jack though," he stated proudly. I smiled.

"I'm sorry; about earlier I mean. I wasn't myself exactly." Charlie shook his head.

"No worries. I wasn't exactly either," he said. "And I should probably tell you why," he added cautiously as an afterthought. I sighed, nodding.

"I should too."

~o~

At nighttime, I sat near a fire, watching the flames dance in the dark. Charlie was still looking sweaty and shaky like he had this morning and he still hadn't told me why. "Come with me," I heard him say. I looked up and slowly stood. I was baffled when he approached Locke, but I played along.

I looked into the different fire that Locke had started. I didn't bother saying hello to him. I was too tired and, well, Locke was brushing a dead boar which was kinda gross. "Give them to me," Charlie stated.

"This is the third time," Locke informed him. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. What were they talking about? "Are you sure you really want them?"

Charlie paused. "I've made my choice." Slowly, Locke reached into his pocket and dug for something. He glanced at me and then pulled out a small package filled with a white substance. And suddenly I understood. I knew why he was so sweaty this past day; I knew why he's been acting so weird, so twitchy.

"You're a druggie," I whispered, disappointment etched in my voice. He met my eyes seriously.

"I was," he stated simply and then tossed the packets into the fire. I looked at him incredulously. Locke smiled proudly.

"I'm proud of you, Charlie. Always knew you could do it," Locke complimented him. I still stared at my uncle and finally I smiled as well.

"Yeah, me too." He beamed, clearly proud of himself. Seemingly randomly, he watched as a moth fluttered around the fire and into the night sky. Apparently this meant something to both of them… didn't exactly know what, but whatever.

Walking back to where we slept, I told him, "I have a bipolar disorder." He glanced over, surprise filling his expression. "That's the reason why I was so awful these past couple of days. I… I go into these kind of… episodes if I don't take medication or I get too angry. I've broken someone's arm before because of one. But, I usually can't sleep; I get distracted easily; I can't control my moods: there's been times when I couldn't get out of bed for weeks, and other types when I was so hyped up I couldn't get _in_ to bed. I even hear voices and see things that aren't there. That happened today. But, I found my medicine, and I took it. So I'm better now. For a while at least."

"Anna never told me this," said Charlie, still wearing a shocked face.

"Don't feel too left out; I didn't even know I had relatives until eight days ago," I replied, smirking. He very slightly smiled. I lied down on my 'bed' and closed my eyes. "Well, it's a good thing you quit that stuff… I hate druggies. My dad's one."

~o~


	6. Passing Time

**I only own Callie and Dani.**

Chapter 6, Day 9-13

 _Dani_

On the morning of the ninth day here on Mystery Island, I sat close the beach, wading my feet into the water. My journal was placed carefully in my lap as my pen scratched over the blank paper. My scribble writing formed word after word of my thoughts, emptying my mind onto the paper. When I was done with the entry, I carefully shut the journal and leaned back, watching the waves crash over each other calmly.

This was one of the only times I was peaceful. When I was out here, writing, watching the ocean. It was just so calming and nice. My peaceful moments are always interrupted by something happening, though, so when I heard the sounds of a fight, I wasn't surprised.

I pushed myself up and ran to where I heard the commotion coming from. I gasped. Okay, that's it. This man had absolutely no form of decency! "Sawyer! Stop it!" I yelled, running to where he was hitting Boone. "Stop!" I knelt to my friend's side and glared up at Sawyer.

"Why the hell did you do that?" I cried.

"He was going through my stuff! He needed to be taught a little lesson on how to stay off my property," Sawyer explained angrily. Rage flared up in me. That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard.

"You can't just beat up people for that reason! That's ridiculous!" I shouted. Others were starting to head over to investigate the scene now, getting reeled in by the sounds of my yelling. "You know what, Sawyer, you're an asshole! You are a selfish, greedy asshole!" I ignored the shocked looks of others of what I said, and helped an injured Boone off the ground.

"I'm fine, Dani. It's okay."

I shot Boone a look, even though I know he couldn't see it. "Oh, we're not going to start this again, are we?" I said, remembering the whole drowning incident. "Boone, you're not fine. We need to get to Jack."

"Boone!" I heard Shannon exclaim and I looked to see her running over here. Great, just what we need. Well, she was his step-sister after all, so I guess she would have to come along. But I didn't have to be happy about it. "What happened?"

"He got beat up," I answered, stating the obvious. She glared at me, which only pissed me off more. I was helping him! She should be grateful!

"I can see that. I meant by who?" she sneered, treating me as if I was a child. She was probably younger than me, if not the same age! I sneered back at her.

"Who do you think?" I asked. She followed my gaze towards Sawyer. He was reading now and acting as if the whole thing never happened. Shannon put Boone's arm around her and helped carry him.

"We need to get him to the caves. I got him, you can go," she said. I took a calming breath.

"That's where I was taking him to, and I'm going to help," I replied, making myself sound collected. She didn't respond after that, but when I looked over at her she wasn't exactly bouncing off the walls in joy.

"We needed some help over here!" she called out when we saw the caves and Jack sitting with Sayid, apparently stitching something up on his head. I wonder what happened to him. Boone tried to walk, but Shannon and I didn't let him. Jack and Sayid raced over to us and took him from us. I stood and watched while Shannon seized a seat by the waterfall.

"What happened?" Jack asked Boone.

"Sawyer." The cause to everyone's problems.

I watched for a while as Jack cleaned up Boone's wound from a distance. I wanted to help, but I didn't want to get in the way of Jack's work. Plus, I needed to fill my water bottle anyway. When it was around late afternoon, I went back to the beach to retrieve my bottles, but I ended up dropping them from my hands the minute I came back. Not only was Shannon having an attack (I think she had asthma), but Jack had just punched Sawyer in the face.

I stepped closer to Boone and plucked my bottles off the ground. I exchanged a glance with Sun as Sawyer ended up getting hit again. From what it looked like, Jack thought Sawyer was keeping Shannon's inhalers which I completely agreed with. Who else would have them?

When the fight was over, I was too exhausted and scared of the jungle to head back to the beach, so I stayed at the caves. Walking over to Sun and Jin, I handed them both water bottles and sat next to them. Jin actually gave me something that looked like a smile, which was the first sign of kindness or acknowledgement he had ever shown me.

Since her husband was there, Sun spoke to me in Korean. "I think I know how to help that girl," she informed me. I looked over at her, waiting for an explanation. "Tomorrow, we have to begin looking for Eucalyptus plants."

"Will they stop her attacks?" I asked. Sun paused and then nodded.

"I'm almost positive they will."

 **~~o~~**

The next day, Sun gave me a description of what the Eucalyptus plants were supposed to look like and we went on a quest to find them. It wasn't hours until we finally found a description match. The plant was a light green color and held several leaves on its stems. She confirmed the plant when she smelled it.

She mashed the plant up to form a paste out of it. I smiled when it was finished, dipped a finger into the paste and and brought it up to my nose. A beautiful, calming scent filled my senses. "This smells amazing," I said surprised. Sun smiled as well.

A loud gasping interrupted us and I turned my head in alarm towards Shannon and Boone. Shannon was having another attack, and Boone was desperately trying to calm her down with no affect. I shot up and ran over to her.

"Shannon! Shannon, listen to me!" I cried, putting my hand on her shoulder. She continued her struggle of breathing but managed to turn some of her attention towards me. Boone knelt down to my side, an anxious look on his face.

"I don't know what to do, Dani! She won't calm down!" He was starting to sound almost as frantic as his sister. I held up my hand to cut him off.

"Okay, _both_ of you listen to me! Shannon, remember what Jack said this morning. I want you to breathe slowly in through your nose. Close your mouth and breathe only through your nose, just like Jack showed you. Boone, you should do this too; you look like you're about to wet yourself," I instructed, following Jack's similar routine this morning. Boone shot me a look of annoyance even though he did as I said, and I managed to hold back my smirk.

Shannon's breathing slowed and the attack started to pass. I smiled at her. "Okay, good. See all better. Now, Sun made a paste from Eucalyptus plants. It's should stop the asthma like medicine would, but hopefully it'll work even better."

Sun knelt to Shannon's side and started spreading the paste on her chest and letting her inhale the scent. It seemed to calm her down and actually… it seemed to heal her. It really did work! I wonder where Sun could have learned that trick. We continued this for another ten minutes until she was fully breathing again.

Jack took a sample of the paste when he arrived and breathed in. He grinned, mentally criticizing his own stupidity for not thinking of it in the first place. I could only wonder what his adventures of the day were. "Thank you," he said to both Sun and me and looked over at me to translate.

"She knows you thanked her," I told Jack, smiling at him. I looked over at Boone, who was also smiling. He met my brown eyes.

"Well, let her know I thanked her too. Thanks to both of you," he said, gratefulness flooding his voice. I nodded, also smiling at him, and turned to Sun. She gave me this knowing look, and I think she was aware of my slight crush on Boone. I stopped myself from blushing.

Boone pulled me aside later that night, still smiling. "Hey, what you did before; I mean, um, yesterday… that was really cool." I grinned and nodded. I didn't have the slightest clue what he was talking about though.

"Thanks. Um… what did I do yesterday?" I questioned, laughing at myself. He chuckled a bit.

"Telling Sawyer off like that and helping me," he answered. I gave a slow nod in realization. "I just didn't think that someone as nice and as pretty as you would yell at, well, anybody like that, no matter how annoying. It was just, you know, kinda awesome." I caught myself blushing again at the compliment.

I grinned even wider. "As pretty as me?" He automatically looked as though he wished he hadn't mentioned that, but ended up awkwardly nodding.

"Well, um… yeah, yeah, as pretty as you. You must know that you are really, really pretty," he half-stuttered. My smile turned into a flirty one as I looked into his blue eyes.

"Well, you're not too bad yourself," I responded to him, feeling awkward but hoping he wouldn't get weirded out. He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I've heard people say that before, actually, but I choose not to believe them." My grin remained as I stood and brushed myself off.

"Believe it," I replied, and took one last look at him before stalking off to where I left my filled bottles of water. As I stuffed one carefully into, I heard someone stop behind me. I waited until whoever it was started talking before I actually turned around and listened.

"Why do you hang around my brother so much?"

I stared up at Shannon for a minute. "We're friends." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's such bull," she snapped. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Really? Cause if you know something about Boone and I's friendship that I don't, please, feel free to tell me," I wondered sardonically. She crossed her arms across her chest, narrowing her eyes.

"He's in love with _me_ , not you! Just stay away from him, all right? Stay away from both of us," she ordered. She even knew about Boone's feelings and she practically treated him like dirt! Anger started to boil up inside of me. What right did she have to tell me what to do? She started to walk off, but I stopped her when I spoke.

"Make me," I said my voice acidic. She looked like she could kill me if she wanted to, but I didn't care anymore. I was furious.

"What did you just say?" her voice was even sharper than mine.

"All I've been doing for the past two days is helping you, Shannon! I've never once been mean to you; I've never insulted you; I helped Sun with the plant to save your life, and then you come over here and order me to not only stay away from you, but your brother!" I paused as I gathered myself together and continued in a calmer voice, "You know of Boone's feelings for you, and yet you treat him like the dirt you walk on… I know that I have no right to say that he deserves better, but… he _does_ , Shannon!

I took another calming breath. "I have no problems staying away from you. But, Boone's my friend; and I'll hang out with him as much as I want to. You'll just have to deal with that." I cut off my little mini-speech and with the water bottles in my hand, passed a stunned and angry Shannon, and lay down in my temporary cave sleeping spot near Sun.

I shook my head, angry thoughts still filling my head and shut my eyes. Why couldn't anything on this island just be simple?

 **~~o~~**

 _Callie_ , Day 13

"You built a _golf course_?"

"Yeah. For fun stuff you know."

I scanned the wide grassy field appreciatively and looked back at Hurley. "I can't believe you actually built a golf course! I mean, how do you just _build a golf course_!" Hurley's smile widened as I laughed. I whirled around as I heard footsteps behind me. I saw Charlie, Jack and Michael making their way up the hill.

"Welcome to the first, and hopefully last, Island Open!" Hurley greeted them dramatically, holding a red flag.

"What?" Jack questioned him.

"It's two holes for now, 3 par, and no waiting!" Hurley exclaimed.

"Hurley you built a _golf course_?" Jack said, repeating my exact words.

"Rich idiots fly to tropical islands all the time to whack balls around."

"All the stuff we've got to deal with, man - this is what you've been wasting your time on?" asked Michael, not sounding very pleased. Well, _I_ thought it was a good idea.

"Dudes, listen. Our lives suck. Everyone's nerves are stretched to the max. I mean, we're lost on an island, running from boars and monsters - freakin' polar bears."

"Polar bears?" Michael asked skeptically.

"You didn't hear about the polar bear?" Charlie voice sounded completely normal as he said this, which is what made me laugh.

"Look, all I'm saying is, if we're stuck here, then just surviving's not going to cut it. We need some kind of relief, you know. We need some way that we can, you know, have fun. That's right, fun. Or else we're just going to go crazy waiting for the next bad thing to happen," Hurley finished. I nodded.

"Well, personally, I think it's a good idea," I stated. The three guys exchanged glances with each other, debating the idea. Finally, Jack nodded.

"Let's play then." Hurley and I both smiled and grabbed golf balls and clubs from the golf bag he found. The guys got into teams, with Michael and Jack playing against Hurley and Charlie. I, however, work alone.

"I'll go first," I offered, grabbing a wood from the bag.

"Yeah, good luck, little girl!" Charlie taunted. I rolled my eyes playfully as the guys started to explain the rules of golf to me, which I ignored. They all shut up the minute I whacked the ball. I watched as it flew in the air and landed a couple yards away from the hole. From where it landed, it was an easy enough shot to get a birdie.

I turned around to see the shocked faces of the four guys. "Did I do it right?" I asked in a mocking voice. Smirking, I faced Charlie. "Your turn."

Survivors began to show up to watch. Apparently the news had gotten around of Hurley's little course. I was still highly in the lead. They had no chance of beating me! I laughed as Hurley's swung hit only grass and again when they started talking about a "mulligan". I was actually having fun for pretty much the first time on Mystery Island.

When it was my turn, I swung as hard as I could and… actually had a terrible shot. "Ugh, no!" I laughed along with the others.

"Is that even possible? Bionicle girl missed a shot!" Charlie and Hurley cried. I stuck my tongue out at them.

"I call a 'mulligan'," I called, air quoting the word mulligan.

When we finally got to the final par, Charlie and Hurley both missed and I, of course, made another birdie, much to the displeasure of them, Jack and Michael. _I had just beaten all of them_ , I thought with another smirk. When it was Jack's turn, we started making bets on whether he'd make it or not. I was with the not option.

"Five bucks says he sinks it," Hurley threw out, grinning.

"Hey, you're betting against me?" Charlie inquired, pretending to be offended. Hurley and Jack laughed.

"Sorry, dude, but you're a duffer like me. Plus, Bionicle girl already won." I chuckled. Looks like I have _another_ nickname.

"Make it ten and you're on!" Boone called out.

"I don't have any cash, but I'll bet my dinner on the Doc," offered Sullivan, one of Jack's patients.

"I've two tubes of sunscreen and a flashlight says he chokes." I turned in shock when I heard his voice. So, Sawyer decided to show up after all. Many of us just stared at him, also stunned that he had made an appearance. He had spent most of the day trying to make the top of the hated list again. I still felt thankful for what he did for me the other day and so far he had kept his end of the bargain and not told anyone. So unlike most of the other people around me, I smiled at him as he made an appearance.

Kate eventually broke the silence that followed his offer and said, "I'll take that action."

Although, Boone still did not look happy with Sawyer, he looked away and took the offer.

"You just bet on Jack, dumbass," Shannon teased with a smile. He smiled back.

"We need the sunscreen, Princess."

I nodded, grinning at Sawyer. "I'll take it too."

We watched intently as Jack concentrated on the hole. He pulled the putter back and let it go. The ball rolled across the grass and… plopped right into its destination. Par for Jack. Most of us cried out Oh's and laughed, and some exchanged fist bumps and smiles with the doctor.

Day 13, October 4 had passed with no sign of rescue whatsoever, but hey, at least we have a golf course.

 **~~o~~**

 **Dani is a sarcastic shit and I love her. So yeah this was short but I like it :)**


	7. The Search Begins

**Disclaimer: Check previous.**

 **Chapter 7, Day 16**

 _Callie_

I was startled awake by a blood-curdling scream for the second night in a row. The minute I heard it, I knew Claire had had another nightmare. The first one had been bad enough; enough for her to dig her nails into her palms causing a puncture in her own skin. This new one seemed to be even worse, considering she was crying for someone to help her.

I stumbled up, running to where she was standing and thrashing around. I arrived just as Charlie and Hurley ran off. Jack led Claire to sit down and I approached, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Claire, what happened? Are you alright?" I questioned her. She didn't seem to be calming down much even though we were the only ones with her and none of us would hurt her.

"Someone attacked me! He-he was trying to hurt me—hurt my baby!" she cried, with a frantic note in her accented voice. Jack placed himself in front of her.

"Claire, look at me, its okay. You're safe now," he comforted.

"Did you get a look at him?" Michael asked her. She shook her head, rocking back and forth in her seat.

"No, it was dark. I couldn't see."

"Where did this happen?" asked Jack calmly.

"H-here. I-I woke up and he was trying to hurt my baby!" she exclaimed, on the verge of panicked tears. "He had this-this thing—a needle and he stabbed me with it. He was trying to hurt my baby." She lifted up her shirt to show her large stomach, but when I examined it, it didn't look like anyone had stabbed her. It didn't look like anyone even touched her.

We didn't try to convince her otherwise and stayed with her for a while. Only when both Jack and Michael left did I talk to her. "Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" I asked softly. She shook her head again.

"No, it-it was real. I'm sure of it," she responded, with a hint of stubbornness in her voice. I didn't question her any farther. What kind of nightmare would cause her to get that scared two nights in a row. Okay, so maybe the first one wasn't real because she was sleepwalking and all, but she was really scared for her life this time. So, I decided I believed her.

"Who do you think would do it?"

She paused for a moment, thinking it over with her eyebrows furrowed. She finally shrugged and looked over at me with scared blue eyes. "I dunno. But whoever did, I don't want to be anywhere near him."

We sat in silence for a while, until Charlie returned carrying a blanket and laid it around her shoulders. He sat on the other side of her. "Are you alright?" he asked her gently. She just barely nodded. "Don't worry if you want to close your eyes, I'll be here all night. I won't let anyone get to you, Claire, I promise. I won't leave you." The corner of my mouth rose slightly. It was cute how he acted around her.

"Yeah, me either," I continued. "I know a fourteen year old girl isn't really intimidating to most, but if he shows up I'll beat him up for you. Promise." She managed to smile a little bit. Like we promised, my uncle and I stayed with our friend until she eventually fell asleep.

 **~o~**

I woke kinda early the next morning, even though I didn't go to sleep until late at night. That was probably a sign that I should take some more pills, but whatever. Claire was already awake and off doing something and Charlie was probably with her. I grabbed one of my empty water bottles and went to go fill it up.

"Callie!" I turned around and watched as Hurley came over to me. He stopped in front of me and readied a pen to write across a notepad. "Name please?" I hesitated and blinked.

"You, uh, know my name, Hurley," I stated, crossing my arms. He smiled and pointed the pen at me as if he realized something significant.

"Ah, but see, you don't know mine!"

I blinked a few more times and started. "What?"

"My actual name is Hugo Reyes, not Hurley," he explained. I remained confused and nodded slowly.

"Okay, awesome. I still don't know what that has to do with anything."

"I'm taking a census of the people around the caves and the beach camp. None of us really know who everybody is, and it's about time we found out. And it looks like you're gonna be the, uh, 6th person on the list. So, name please?"

"Uhh, Callie. Callie Jordan Georgeston. I'm going to change my last name to Pace once we get off this damn island," I responded. The census was a sensible thing to do, and I didn't see anything wrong with the idea.

"Age? Birthday?"

"14 going on 15. Today's October 7, so I'll be 15 in twelve days; hence I was born October 19, 1989."

"Happy Birthday in twelve days. Place of residence?"

"You mean, besides Mystery Island?" I smirked. "LA. I was going home." Hurley scribbled that down.

"Going home, got it. And what were you going home from? Why were you in Australia?" I laughed bitterly. This should be interesting for him.

"Well, my mom and I were going to bust my dad out of jail. Legally, of course. Fortunately, we didn't come back with him," I told him, a devilish smirk on my face the whole time. He stared for a minute, taking in that information.

"Right, well, I'm going to go," he stated, and turned to leave. I laughed again.

"Have fun with your census," I bid him. Once he was gone I searched around the caves, looking for something to do. I spotted Claire this time, alone. I approached her and took a seat next to her.

"You feel okay?" I questioned. She nodded.

"Yeah, much better. Still a little spooked, but I think I'll be fine." I nodded too and smiled at her. I stayed with her for most of day, conversing with her on random things and keeping her company. I couldn't even imagine what she was feeling. I mean, she was almost nine months pregnant while stuck on a deserted island with barely any medical tools and only one doctor. It must be terrifying.

Jack arrived where we were sitting later in the afternoon. "Hey," he greeted to both of us. "Uh, Callie, do you mind if I speak to Claire alone for a minute."

"Well…" I scoffed in fake offense and stood up. He grinned a little bit and for once I did something that he told me. I walked off, debating my options on what to do next. Hurley was probably out on the beach, still taking notes on the people of the crash.

I followed the path to the beach cautiously. I still didn't like the jungle and was weary of it ever since I had seen; well, whatever it was that I saw. I didn't really like thinking about it too much either. I gave a relieved outtake of breath when I arrived at the beach without seeing any hallucinations. I stalked up to the first person I saw.

"Hey, Kate. You seen Hurley? Jack kicked me out," I said, joking on the last part. Kate smiled.

"Yeah, he's around somewhere. He already asked his questions for the census on me," Kate told me. I nodded and thanked her. I spotted Hurley not too far from where Kate was, continuing to his next person.

"Hey, Hurley! Do you mind if I help? I don't really have anything else to do," I offered. He accepted and I tagged along with him. But of course, his next two people were the two people I never really liked on this island. And of course, when we asked them, Shannon couldn't just reply like a normal person.

"You want my information; Name: Shannon Rutherford, age: 20, address: Craphole Island." I rolled my eyes and followed her and Hurley as she stomped away with her bag draped across her shoulder. Boone followed, close behind.

"Where were you guys last night?" Hurley inquired.

"Um, the beach," she responded, not slowing down. Boone kept up with Hurley, walking beside him.

"So, why the interrogation?" he inputted curiously. Hurley chuckled.

"You're like the 20th person to ask me that. Why is everyone so uptight about answering a few questions?"

"Well, maybe we're just not cool with you setting up your own little Patriot Act, man." I rolled my eyes again, almost laughing.

"He's a liberal," Shannon threw out.

"Claire got attacked last night and it was Hurley's idea to start up a census to know everyone and try to find out who her attacker was," I explained to them. "She's okay though," I added at Boone and Shannon's shocked faces.

Shannon nearly threw her back down and stopped in her tracks. "I am so not moving to the rape caves."

Boone ignored her and turned to Hurley and me. "You know, your life would be so much easier if you just had the manifest. We crossed out all the names of the dead after we burned the fuselage, so it should be a full roster of the rest of us." I exchanged a look with Hurley. It would be really helpful if he knew this, before he went out and got everybody's information.

"Really? Who has it?" Hurley asked, sounding excited. Boone gave a blank look and I knew immediately without him even saying anything.

"Who do you think?"

"Well, good luck getting it from him, man. I mean, he likes me so call me if you need me to help you out," I joked, smirking. Hurley sighed and headed for Sawyer's tent. I waited for him, happy to get away from Boone and Shannon, and ended up being utterly surprised when he emerged from the tent with the manifest in his hand.

"He actually gave it to you?"I questioned astonished. He smiled.

"Apparently I have a gift," he said. I raised my eyebrows and sat down.

"Oh, I bet."

We worked together filling in the names he hadn't yet gotten on his list and making sure all the people on his list were on the manifest. This was about an hour's worth of work and everything seemed to be going right in place. So it seemed.

"Dudette? Do you know Ethan Rom?" he asked slowly. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I've seen him. Never met him though. Why?"

Hurley paused. "He's not on the manifest." I looked up immediately, stopping mid-sentence in my scribble-writing.

"What do you mean he's not on the manifest?"

"I mean, his name's, like, not on here. He wasn't on the plane," he stated, stunned. My eyes widened in realization. I knew what this meant.

"So you mean like, he's not one of us? You mean, he was here before us? He lives on the island?" Fear swelled up inside of me at the possibility of what this all could mean. He could have been the one that attacked Claire. He could be spying on us. And if he was spying on us that must mean that he has his own people that, too, live on the island. "I-I think we should tell the others of this."

"Yeeeah." We both stumbled up quickly and sprinted through the jungle, wanting to arrive as quickly as possible to whoever we could find. We found Jack and Kate with Locke watching close by. I was too worried to even notice that Sayid was back and in pain after a week of absence. Hurley didn't seem to take note of this either.

"We've got a problem," he stated, kneeling next to a busy Jack. Hurley tried to explain what we had discovered but Jack was too caught up in trying to help Sayid.

"Jack!" I exclaimed sharply. He finally turned around and appeared to see us for the first time since we got there. "There's someone at our camp that wasn't on the plane. He was on the island before us."

"What? Who?"

I paused and bit my lower lip. "How well do you know Ethan Rom?" Sayid gave a pained gasp and sat up with much effort. He looked almost delusional and exhausted.

"That's what I was saying. There are others on the island besides us. We're not alone," he choked out, and suddenly fear struck the hearts of everyone in the area listening. We honestly weren't alone.

"Sayid, what did you see? What did they do to you?" I was met with no answer.

 **~o~**

"Has anyone seen Ethan?" Jack yelled, getting up and diverting his attention away from Sayid's leg. "Where is Ethan?" Panic started to take over those who were watching and listening nearby and the noise level started to raise, none of the words meeting Jack's question.

Finally, Michael answered Jack. "Yeah, he went to go get some wood. He took off on the path to the beach. What happened?" Michael had clearly just arrived. Jack didn't answer his, and started walking around the camp.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked. I hadn't seen Charlie around for a while now. In fact, I haven't seen him since last night. I started to worry, and searched around the camp as well, hoping for a sight of him as a reassurance. "Where's Charlie?" Jack repeated.

"He went after Claire," Locke broke in, speaking for the first time. I met eyes with my fellow survivors.

"And where the hell's Claire?" I started in a bitter tone. "In case it's slipped anybody's minds, she was attacked last night." Jack and Locke exchanged a brief look with each other and all of a sudden both ran for the jungle. I started to follow, but someone's gentle hand on my shoulder held me back. I looked up and met Kate's worried green eyes. I sighed and stared after them.

Still biting my lip in worry, I shakily sat down on the ground and waited. They'd come back eventually and when they did, I'd be here. It wasn't until about another half an hour until Locke came back without Jack. Things had calmed a bit and people went off to do their own thing. But only certain people like me and Kate and Boone waited.

I jumped up when I saw Locke emerge from the forest. Kate kinda stole my chance to talk to him but I managed to catch Kate saying, "I'm coming with you."

"I figured you might," came Locke's reply. I took this moment to step in and fell into pace at Locke's side.

"And you must know I'm coming too," I told him. It was more of a statement than a question. He gave a simple nod without looking at me.

"Yeah, figured that also."

But I wasn't the last member to this little search party. Boone asked to join in as well, despite his sister's objections. Locke explained that we were going to follow Ethan's trail as a way to find Charlie and Claire and probably Jack too.

"Let's get moving," he stated and handed Boone and I knives. He may have scared me before, but how many adults gave a teenager a knife and expected they knew what to do with it. I think I was starting to like him. With that, and a little delay from Michael, we headed out of the caves and into the jungle.

We had only been walking for a little while before we found Jack, looking confused and lost. I still didn't like being in the jungle, but I wasn't scared at the moment since I had others with me (including a hunter).

"Did you find anything?" Kate asked him. He looked down and shook his head.

"You should go back to the caves to help Sayid with his leg," Locke suggested, clearly trying to get him out of the way, but Jack refused saying that he had taken care of Sayid's leg. Jack and Locke headed away from us, going into a private conversation that the rest of us couldn't hear. I didn't bother to speak to Kate or Boone.

"Follow me," I heard Locke say. The three of us just stared as Locke began to walk away. Jack beckoned us to follow and so we did. We searched and searched but still didn't find any sign of them. Locke decided to stop and took out a piece of red cloth to mark where we've been. We had lost the trail a few minutes ago; it seemed to have just disappeared. Locke, Boone and I stayed while Jack and Kate went off to search the area.

I ignored Locke and Boone's conversation and sat down, looking around the perimeter of the area, hoping that Charlie and Claire would miraculously appear outside the bushes and tell how they escaped. But I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen. I sighed when Jack and Kate came back alone.

"If you can't find the trail…" Jack started but Locke cut him off.

"I'll pick it up again. We need to rest for a minute to get our clarity back." I turned my attention towards him and opened my mouth to say something, but I too was cut off.

"A break? It's almost 4 o'clock. When the sun sets there's no way…"

"It's 4:25 and yes, I'm taking a break," Locke snapped. This made me change my mind on my comment against the break; I didn't want to push him any farther. But I just couldn't imagine what Ethan could be doing right now. He could be killing them for all we knew.

"Hey, what's this?" I turned at Boone's voice and almost gasped at what he was holding up. It was one of those tapes that Charlie wore around his fingers; this one had the letter L on it.

"That's Charlie's!" I cried, standing and getting in a circle next to Boone and Locke. Locke called Jack and Kate, who were having their own talk, over. Jack and Kate ran over to join us and Jack took the tape from Locke.

"Look familiar?" Locke said. Jack nodded.

"It's Charlie's."

"That's what I said," I added.

"You think it just came off?" asked Boone.

"No," started Jack. "He's leaving us a trail."

"A trail which we should follow," I said. Jack and Locke nodded and we were off again, searching for any part of Charlie's trail. Jack managed to find another part of Charlie's trail, but we reached another fork in the road when Locke found another footprint trail.

"What if Charlie isn't the one leaving the trail. If Ethan knows that we're behind him, he could be setting up a dummy trail. Take off in one direction, double-back his own footprints," Kate explained. I nodded, along with her, an idea sparking up in my head.

"Yeah, what if the tapes lead us to Charlie but the footprints lead us to where Ethan and possibly Claire went," I suggested. "Which means we'd have to split up in order to follow both?" Yay, I felt smart.

"She's right," Jack agreed, nodding his head. I resisted the urge to beam.

"No, we should stay together," Locke intervened.

"Why? We've got two trails, and, apparently, three trackers." He gestured to Kate and me on his last point. Locke finally considered this and agreed. I choose to go with Jack and Kate; one, because Kate was pretty much the only one I somewhat trusted in our little search party and two, because the trail we were following would most likely lead us to Charlie.

Jack was practically sprinting through the trail, trying desperately to find the next tape. I stayed behind both Jack and Kate and ignored their bickering. I picked up a few things when they seemed to forget I was there, such as Kate being on the run. The run from what? I never thought of the fact that that could possibly mean she was a fugitive, which I didn't learn until later.

"My dad was in the army. Ranger Battalion. We were stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington State. We'd go hiking together. One day we spend 8 hours tracking deer. Being in the woods, it was like his religion," Kate all of a sudden starting telling him. "That was real. Anything you want to share, Jack?"

When Jack didn't say anything, I interrupted. "Can we go now?" They both glanced at me, reminding themselves that I was indeed here and started moving once again. I felt a drop of water on my hand while stumbling past some rocks on the path, and of course rain started pouring from the sky randomly. Great, just great. This certainly didn't improve my mood.

I looked up towards the sky and cried, "What the hell?!" I rolled my eyes and shivered as rain drenched me from head to toe. Now I was tired, miserable, thirsty _and_ wet. Jack found the T tape on one of the damp rocks. We all froze in fear as we heard the sound of something almost like a bird screeching. No, there was something more to it… it sounded like Claire! I took off after Jack.

"Jack! Callie! Where are you going?" I heard Kate yell from behind me. I didn't bother to answer but instead trailed after Jack, finding a vine of my own to climb up the hill that was in our way.

"Didn't you hear her?" Jack exclaimed over the heavy rain. Kate questioned him, but he kept climbing. I did as well, but I answered her.

"Claire. She was screaming. You didn't hear that?" I said, breathing heavily as I tried to get up the hill.

"I don't think that was Claire, Callie," she doubted. I shot a look at her.

"I've heard her scream two nights in a row now. Trust me, it was her."

Jack had reached the top and reached to pull himself up… but he ended up slipping. We screamed for him as he tumbled down. Despite my better judgment, I slid down my vine as carefully as I could. Kate didn't come after until I was almost halfway down. I gasped when I dropped to the bottom. I just managed to see someone kick Jack in the face, causing him to lose consciousness. A fiery rage boiled up inside of me as I looked at his face. He merely smirked and turned away.

"Ethan! Where are they?! What the hell did you do with them?!" I bellowed as loud as I could. "You better tell me where the hell Charlie and Claire are! You hear me? Get back here and tell me where they are!" I started to chase after him, but the moment I blinked, he was gone. Frustrated hot tears fell down my cheeks, blending in with the rain water.

I couldn't move from my spot for a while. It had stopped raining about five minutes later, and Jack came-to again and questioned about Ethan. Kate didn't see him, but Jack and I did. "He got away," I said, my tone low and bitter. "Ethan got away."

There was a silence between us until Jack said, "I'm not letting him do this."

"Not letting him?" Kate almost yelled, chasing after him. I almost was too emotionally exhausted to grasp that we were running again. Once I did, I gathered up my energy and took off after them. I had to find Charlie and Claire, I had to. I couldn't give up even if the case looked hopeless.

I tripped upon pretty much everything in sight trying to keep up with Jack, but I was determined not to let anybody or anything get in the way of saving the only family member I had left (that is, if my mom hadn't told me about anybody else) and my close friend. We finally came upon the last letter tape, the E; only it wasn't separated like the others. It was still attached to my uncle's hand. I gasped and let out a shuddered breath.

"Oh god, no!" I breathed. "Get him down! Come on!" Jack and I ran over to Charlie's hanging form and lifted him as much as possible while Kate climbed and cut the vine around his neck away. He fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Charlie! Oh, please be alive!" I exclaimed while helping Jack remove the rope vines from his neck. He wasn't breathing. I stepped aside, taking Charlie's hand, as Jack used CPR. My vision went blurry and I thought I might black out, but when I blinked I realized they were just tears running down my face. The CPR wasn't working.

I heard the sound of sobbing in my ears without noticing it was my own. Jack was pounding on Charlie's chest now; he still wasn't breathing. I briefly heard Kate mutter for him to stop, which was unthinkable to me. "What do you mean stop? Don't stop! He s-still has a chance!" I choked out. Kate was crying now too. But Jack stopped.

This couldn't be happening. Charlie was the only person I had left. He couldn't be gone. He wasn't! So, damn it, why was Jack giving up? Charlie was not dead! "Jack, please," I meant to say this harsher, but it only came out as a whimper. It didn't appear that he heard me, but he did. And it triggered something. He shook his head.

"No," was the only thing he said before he continued pounding on Charlie's chest. I squeezed onto Charlie's hand tightly, as if it would somehow bring the life back into him. Kate kept repeating stop, but neither of us listened to her. Warm tears stained my cheeks when this still didn't seem to work. I jumped when Charlie suddenly breathed.

"Charlie!" I exclaimed, my tears becoming those of joy. I beamed, still sobbing a little, and helped Jack hoist him up. He gasped and struggled for air, but he was still breathing, and that's all I cared about. I put my arms around him and sobbed onto his shoulder. He was alive.

 **~o~**

The greater problem was indeed over with, but that still didn't stop my worry. We got Charlie back to the caves safe and sound, but he hadn't said a thing since. He barely talked to us on the way back. Jack, Kate and I sat with him as Jack tended to his neck wound.

"Charlie, you've got to talk to me," Jack said after checking his breathing. "We're going to back out and look for Claire the moment the sun comes up, and I could really use your help. Anything that you can tell me about what you remember, where you were going. Did you see or hear...?"

"I didn't see anything," Charlie finally said, his voice low and dark. "I didn't hear anything. I don't remember anything… all they wanted was her."

"What? They?"

"All they wanted was Claire." And that was the last thing Charlie said to Jack for the rest of the night. Jack and Kate eventually left Charlie's side when they didn't know what else to say, but I sat by him, just because I wanted him to know I was there.

"Charlie, you know you can talk to me. Even if you can't remember anything, or even if you're not willing to talk, I'm willing to listen. Just so you know," I said softly. I didn't get an answer and was about to leave until I heard his intake of breath.

"The last thing I remember is Ethan taking us; me and Claire. I tried to help her, but he—he knocked me out. Then I woke up and you three were standing over me," he said slowly, his eyes not once leaving the fire. "Ethan—he's not one of us." I almost laughed.

"Yeah. Yeah, we know that." I bit my lip and looked over at him. "Do you need any company for the night? I'm here if you need me." For once, Charlie looked away from the fire and shook his head at the ground.

"No, it's alright. You should sleep," he barely whispered. I paused once again and then nodded. I stood up and brushed myself off and was about to leave. I hesitated and bent town to kiss Charlie on the cheek.

"I'm glad you're alive," I stated quietly and left. I thought my last statement over in my head. I knew what I needed to do next. Even though I never been too fond of him, he saved Charlie's life. I walked over to where Jack was. He was standing close to his medical supplies, going through them and thinking what he might need in the next few days.

"Jack." My voice came out as just over a whisper. He turned and gave me a small smile. I forced a smile out too. I was about to say a thank you, but I ended up walking over and hugging him. He was surprised back quickly returned my embrace. "Thank you. Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for saving his life." I released him and once again I was on the verge of tears. Geez, I was so oddly emotional today. What's wrong with me?

Jack grinned and put a hand on my shoulder. "You're welcome. It was just something I had to do." He took his hand away from my shoulder and gestured to where I usually sleep. "You should get—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I should get some sleep. I've been told," I finished, rolling my eyes but still smiling. "Thanks." And so, once again I did what he told me (once again, what's wrong with me?).

To be honest, I was exhausted from the day and I could very easily fall asleep if I just close my eyes. I know that I would just wake up early in the morning feeling like I never slept at all. The sleeping pills Sawyer gave me only worked on occasion unfortunately. So even though I took them daily, most of the time my thoughts kept me awake. Such as tonight, I played in my head all the bad things that happened and could have happened today.

I couldn't believe that less than 6 hours ago I was sitting with Claire, just talking to her about random things that crossed our minds. And now who knew where she was _. Oh, not again,_ I thought when tears spilled out of my eyes for the millionth time that day. I let them fall. They stopped within an hour and I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing them not to open again until it was morning.

 **~o~**


	8. Not So Perfect

**For like the one person that's reading this, first of all thank you! Second, I know I'm cranking these chapters out pretty quickly, but it's because I wrote them a long time ago, I just finally got around to editing and republishing them. I got up to around Homecoming/…In Translation when I was writing this last time so it might slow down a bit after that. Be prepared haha.**

~o~

 ** _Chapter 8, Day 18-22_**

 _Dani_

I sat as close to the fire as I could, shivering with a blanket wrapped around me. It is quite easy for me to get cold since I'm used to a bit of a warmer climate back in Italy. It was freezing on this island at night. It never got the perfect temperature. At day, it was too hot; at night, it was too cold. I missed Italy. I knew I had to go back to my tent sometime tonight; I couldn't sleep out here. I just wanted to be close to the fire for a while to get warmed up, though it wasn't working.

I sang an Italian lullaby to myself to make myself drowsy. It was sung to me as a little girl by my mother, and I loved it ever since, even when I got older and my mother and I stopped getting along. It comforted me, making the sound of calming waves louder in my ears. I heard footsteps behind me, and my eyes peaked open. I was a little paranoid over what happened to Claire. Poor Claire.

"How many languages do you speak anyway?" a familiar voice from behind me asked. I turned with a small smile on my face.

"Boone, what are you doing out here? Where were you?" Boone walked over to the spot next to me, and sat, smiling back.

"John and I were looking for Claire. And before you ask, no there's no sign of her yet," he responded, cutting me off when I was about to open my mouth. "You didn't answer my question. I mean, you speak English, Italian, French, Korean… what's next, Norwegian?" I looked down at my hands, smirking.

"No, no Norwegian. Mostly just the latter four," I replied, and looked back up into his sparkling blue eyes. "Well, and I'm almost fluent in German, but I'm not quite there yet. Plus, I'm learning Spanish and Russian but I just started on those. I can only say about 15 words from each." By the time I was done, Boone was raising his eyebrows. I laughed. "What about you? Any besides English?"

Boone shook his head. "No. Just a couple things in French from when I've heard Shannon speaking it." I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"I thought she couldn't speak French?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, she can. She's just stubborn." I nodded, not knowing what to say next. "Why are you out here?"

"I-I was cold, so I couldn't sleep. So I came out by the fire, hoping it would warm me up. Unfortunately, I was wrong." I didn't notice what Boone was doing until he left.

"Where are you going?" I asked. I didn't want him to leave yet.

"I'll be right back!" he called out. I blinked and shook my head, smiling. While he was gone, I desperately tried to calm my sudden nerves. I was still terrified of getting too close to him, but as time went on, the notion became less and less scary. Maybe I was getting over my fear. He came back with a lump of fabric in his hands. I refrained from blushing as he put a light brown jacket around me. We were fairly close, I had noticed. Despite the dirt and sweat still sticking to his body, he smelled good.

He pulled me closer to him and the fire, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I was more than warm now, and it wasn't from the fire or the jacket. "You can sleep if you want. I'll keep you warm."

I gave a small and slightly flirty smile, trying to cover up the red on my cheeks. "Believe me, I'm warm now. But don't leave." He smiled back at me.

"I'm not going anywhere," he whispered into my hair. I rested my head on his shoulder and shut my eyes. I still didn't understand why he was so nice to me, you know, with Shannon and all. At the moment I didn't care. I left sleep overcome me, right on Boone's shoulder.

~o~

The next three days were similar to this; endure the boring day, sit out by the fire when I got cold, talk to Boone once he came back for hours until I finally fell asleep on his shoulder with his arm around me. Then I would wake up in the morning feeling cheerful and refreshed. I felt safe around him, like nothing could get to me.

He usually carried me to my tent once I was fast asleep and goes off to his own tent, but I woke up in the same place I had been the night before on the morning of Day 22. I blinked a few times before fully peaking my eyes open. It was early; early enough to the point where the sun was just rising. I was still on the beach, lying in the gentle sand next to where the fire had long extinguished. My head was still supported by something. Lifting myself into a sitting position, I saw Boone's sleeping form.

It was the first time he stayed with me all night. I allowed myself a small smile as I reached over and lightly shook his shoulder. His eyes slowly opened and he squinted at the rising sun. Still lying in the sand, he looked over at me. "Did we stay out on the beach all night?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered, and chuckled.

"At least the tents aren't that much better," he stated with a hint of a smile.

I paused, trying to think of something to say. "I think I actually like it out here better." I believed we had some sort of moment there going, until my mouth got us in trouble with the universe. The high tide rose with the last bit of moon in the sky, drenching us with freezing salt water when we weren't paying attention. I screamed and jumped up out of the way, and Boone cursed a bit.

"That water is freaking cold!" Boone exclaimed, trying to shake the water off of him. I broke out in a way too loud laughing fit, which caused Boone to. "Maybe staying out here isn't the best thing to do to get you warm." I shook my head no through my giggles. Grinning, he put his arm around my shoulders again and led us off to my tent, where my warm, fuzzy blankets were. Inside, I wrapped my favorite blanket around me, and handed another to Boone. We were both still laughing a bit.

We calmed down in the next few minutes and got a conversation going once again. "By the way, I never asked. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-one. My next birthday is in April. Isn't that old?" I answered, with a slight sarcastic joke added in.

"Then I must be pretty ancient," he continued. I raised my eyebrows at him waiting for him to elaborate. "I'm a full twenty-two years. Beat you by one… oh, excuse me—almost half a year." I chuckled.

~o~

Later on in the day, I sat out on the warm sand of the beach, scribbling notes in my journal and watching the waves wash in and take sand with them as they left. I heard someone approaching my right and I looked up, shutting the journal. I put a bright smile on my face. "Hello, Sayid," I greeted.

"Hello, Dani," he said, taking a seat next to me. "I need to ask a favor of you."

"Sure, what is it?" I crossed my legs and turned to face him. I was well aware of how much like a little girl I looked. But I was in a good mood, and I couldn't find it in me to care.

"You are fluent in French, yes?" I nodded in confirmation. He pulled a few sheet of paper out of his backpack and laid them out so I could see. "The papers contain equations accompanied by notations in French. Would you be able to translate these maps?"

I looked over the large fragments of paper he was holding out. A map of the island appeared to be sketched on it, but it was too difficult to tell. A few French notes were written here and there and I was able to read them. I took a map fragment from his hands and read over the words. There was something odd about them. It was the same thing over and over.

"It looks like the words are repeating, just like the iteration. 'La mer; Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs; A des reflets d'argent; La mer; Des reflets changeants; Sous la pluie'," I recited, and looked over at Sayid. "The first part of this directly translates to 'the sea, that one sees dancing along the clear gulfs has silver reflections. The Sea, changing reflections under the rain.'"

"What does that mean?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea. It says 'the sea'—'la mer' over and over. There's other words added to it; in the summer sky merge, it's white sheep with such pure angels…shepherdess of azure, infinite." I handed the piece of map back to him. "The words don't fit together. I don't understand what it is trying to say." Sayid sighed, and I stood up.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help," I told him genuinely. He glanced up at me.

"It's quite alright."

I started to head down the beach, but thought of something else and turned back. "Sayid? You could ask Shannon for help. She—she can speak French."

"I thought she said she couldn't?" he asked in confusion. I smiled.

"She lied." I threw my pack over my shoulder and started my walk down the beach. I had already moved my tent earlier in the day to the new camp along with my belongings, so that was crossed off on my list. Instead, I helped others save their belongings from the chilly ocean waters.

In mid-afternoon, I grew tired and bored. I lied out on the beach near my tent and shut my eyes, protecting them from the sun's rays. I wasn't worried about getting sunburn; my skin was dark enough to where I rarely acquired sunburns. I was just beginning to drift off…

"Go help your friend Sayid," a voice passing me snapped. I shot up, looking after Shannon as she strutted away. I stumbled to my feet and caught up to her.

"I already did. I recommended you." She turned on me, her eyes blazing. Perfect, she's going to yell me again.

" _You_ put him up to it?" she exclaimed incredulously.

"I didn't _put_ him up to anything. I told him he should ask you since you speak French. I thought that you might want to do something productive on this island that doesn't include getting a tan," I retorted, my voice sharp. Shannon almost looked hurt, but her expression was heated as well.

"So you think I'm useless too?"

I paused, and both my face and voice got a great deal softer. "I never said that." Shannon reignited her flaming appearance and her voice rose in anger again.

"Well, you might just say it, because everyone else on this island seems to think so! I'm the useless, mean, spoiled, self-centered bitch that doesn't know how to do anything for myself, and you're little miss perfect!" she yelled. Her words shocked me. She thought _I_ was perfect? Shannon, the beautiful, young, tall blonde thought _I_ was perfect?

"I-I'm sorry, what? _I'm_ perfect?" I questioned, astonished. Shannon crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at the ocean.

"Everyone loves you. You're nice, beautiful, smart, you help everybody, you speak a million languages, and everybody freaking loves you, including Boone and Sayid. So why don't you be little miss perfect around them and leave me alone?" she said bitterly, but much calmer. She began to walk back to her new tent location.

"I told Sayid to ask you because I believed you could help him. I tried, and I failed. Clearly, I'm not so 'perfect'," I quietly exchanged. "I don't think you're useless." I adverted my attention away from her and made my way towards the center of the beach, where survivors were just beginning to ignite a fire.

How could she think I was perfect? I was far from perfect. In fact, in most cases, people would consider her the perfect one. Like in high school, she'd be the popular cheerleader everyone would want to be and I'd be the same person I always had been in high school: one of the bad kids. I mean, I was smart and everything and usually mastered good grades, but I hang out with what would be regarded as the 'bad crowd' and I still do in college. I drank, I smoked, I did drugs with my friends—we were outcasts. In other words, I was the kind of person she would pick on if we were in school world and not Mystery Island world.

I sat out near the fire for hours, but it really didn't seem like that long. I didn't acknowledge the shadow casting over the sky and the sunlight slowly fading away. I was cold again. Boone's jacket was in my tent. The fire was definitely not helping anymore after what I had grown used to. I heard a gentle and pretty singing voice from somewhere down the beach. The song was in French; and it was the same words I had previously read. La mer, la mer. It was from a song. Shannon figured it out.

"Hey." For some reason, I decided to stand at his voice. So I was facing him, with a smile now forming on my face.

"Hi," I answered. "Any luck?" He shook his head no. I didn't expect any different. There was no sign of Claire whatsoever. "What a surprise." He shot me a look.

"We're trying," he said harshly. I put my hands up in surrender.

"Okay, I believe you," I countered, a grin on his annoyance playing on my face. "I just don't think there's going to be a sign of her anytime soon." I don't think Boone was listening to me anymore; he was distracted by something over my shoulder. "Boone, are you okay?"

He faced me, putting on a look that said I was the stupid one. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I'm fine," he snapped. I raised my eyebrows. He looked down into the fire. "Sorry, I'm just tired." Ah, the typical excuse. "You still cold?"

"Yeah, the fire never works," I answered. He gave me a half smile back.

"That's why I'm here, aren't I?"

His words got to me, and before I really comprehended what I was doing, I leaned in and touched my lips with his. It was gentle and modest, but slowly deepened. It didn't last very long, mainly because I broke away in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry. I s-shouldn't have done that," I stuttered. I could feel the heat on my face. There was a pause and I didn't know whether he was going to answer or not, which really made me freak out.

"Yeah, you're right. You shouldn't have." I wasn't expecting that though. I looked up to meet his eyes just as he began to walk away.

"Boone—"I started, but he was out of hearing range. I stared after him, regretting everything I did in the past two minutes. I slowly sunk to the ground when he was out of sight and back in his own tent and switched my gaze to the fire. I get that kissing him was an impulsive thing to do, but was it really that bad?

Thoughts like this raced through my head. This was exactly what I had been afraid of, and now I was paying the price for it. God, how could I be so _stupid._ How could I let myself get into a situation like this again, where I'm the one who is set up to get hurt? He didn't like me back; why didn't he just tell me that? It would sting, I admit, but it wouldn't hurt as bad as what he actually did. But now because of my stupid audacious moves, I possibly just lost my friendship with him. I'm so stupid sometimes.

I should have just kept to myself like I promised myself a long time ago.

~o~


	9. Irony

_**Chapter 9, Day 23-24**_

 _Dani_

I started off my morning by slipping on some clean clothes—my old ones were filthy and rather disgusting. Plus, shorts and tanks seemed much more comfortable for the day time island weather since it got so hot and sticky. I seized an opportunity in early part of the day to stroll up to the fresh water and wash off my hair. It felt relieving to be at least somewhat not gross.

Most survivors by now were on their daily routine, wandering around the camps and socializing. I wasn't in the best of moods, but I attempted to be as friendly as possible and greet the people that I passed. It wasn't easy because most of the time when I'm in a bad mood, I'm not very pleasant, but I managed to be polite.

"Hello, Dani," I heard a joyful voice say. I knew who it was because the voice was indeed in Korean. I smiled, whirling around.

"Hello, Sun."

"Come with me. I have something to show you," she declared, taking my hand and leading me to somewhere. We arrived at a leafy clearing in the jungle. It was rather isolated from the rest of our camp; an appealing, peaceful place. From what it looked like, the soil on the ground was decent for planting, and it was dug over so that someone could plant in it.

"What is it?" I asked my friend, in English now that we were alone. She looked over, smiling.

"I am going to start a garden," she stated and knelt to the ground, scooping up a handful of the dirt in her hand. "The soil here is great for planting. The trees are almost all picked over; they are going to run out of fruit soon. I was thinking that if we had this garden, we could stop relying on the trees. We could grow our own food."

A grin played on my lips as I rested my knees in the sand, kneading my fingers through the fertile soil. "That's a great idea, Sun."

"Thank you," she answered, grinning. "Of course, we need to find seeds to grow— "

"I can help with that," I offered immediately. I wanted something to do on this island. "Well, I-I don't really know exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm sure that can be solved." I chuckled.

Sun reached into a little baggie near her side and pulled out a few different seeds. She held up a few; in particular, a blue-black colored one and a grayish-yellow one. "These are two of the seeds we are looking for. This one is a guava seed and this one is a passion fruit seed."

I picked up and examined a shriveled-looking one. "Hm, what about the one that looks like a dry raisin?"

"Papaya seed," Sun said, smiling. I put the seed back into the baggie and watched as Sun dug deeper holes into the ground.

"How do you know so much about this? First the eucalyptus and now a whole garden," I asked. She met my eyes, considered and shrugged.

"I have always enjoyed gardening," was her only reply. I nodded and watched her plant. I was trying to prevent my mind from drifting off. I was aware of what I'd end up thinking about. But it wasn't long before my mind floated away from me and landed smack-dab on planet Boone. Why didn't he just talk to me? I bit my lip, trying to push the thoughts away.

"Dani, are you all right?" Sun's voice cut through my thoughts. I swallowed silently and slowly faced her.

"I'm fine. I just—I have a lot on my mind," I told her slowly.

"Care to talk about it?"

I paused, debating. I trusted Sun; I could tell her. After all, she informed me of one of her biggest secrets. Who was I to keep one of mine from her? I sighed and turned my body to face her. "I kissed Boone. And—and, it didn't turn out so well." She was staring at me intently, surprised. I met her eyes and went on. "And I don't know what to do about it." I finished with a shrug.

Sun was quiet for a moment before she asked, "Do you like Boone?" I, too, paused. It didn't take much pondering. Gradually, I nodded.

"I didn't want to, but… it just kind of happened."

She managed a bit of a smile. "Then talk to him. Sometimes talking is the best solution." I thought over what she said; it was true. Maybe I should just talk to him.

It was just kind of ironic; the woman who told me talking was the best solution couldn't even tell her own husband that she spoke English.

~o~

That night, I didn't sit near the fire like usual. Instead, I assisted with the firewood, snapping it into smaller pieces and dropping it into each of the many fires around the camp. I socialized with more of the survivors, learning their names and getting to know more about them. It actually wasn't that terrible.

I saw movement from the corner of my eye and froze. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, he'd come over and speak to me. But, no. I gazed at his retreating form—he passed me without a second glance. I sighed, clenching my teeth together. I'm not what you would call 'mature', but this was ridiculous. Throwing a piece of wood to the ground, I strode to catch up to him.

"Why are you ignoring me?" I questioned, my voice calm, but fierce. He saw him stop; only taking a second to glance back at me.

"What are you talking about?" he replied softly. I crossed my arms.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Boone," I stated sharply. This time he didn't even look back and didn't answer. I exhaled, trying to make myself sound collected. "Look, if you don't like me the way I do you, just _tell_ me. Don't ignore me."

There was a long silence when I believed that he hadn't even heard me. Eventually, he just shook his head and whispered, "Just forget it." He began to walk away, without even a glance back.

"Forget what? Boone!" I called out. He kept walking. That's when I decided I was done. It wasn't worth my time. _He_ wasn't. "You know what? Fine! I don't care, Boone. Do whatever the hell you want," I yelled out, so that he could hear me. "You're just like Gio!"

I plopped down angrily in the sand, glaring into the fire. "What?" I snapped at a young couple—I think their names were Nikki and Paulo—staring at me. They instantly turned away. I sat there for a while; I lost track of time. By the time I headed for bed, I was still furious. I lay on my stomach with my blanket draped across my body. I was shivering, but I didn't care. The tan jacket was abandoned, laying at the edge of my tent.

~o~

In the morning, I did the same thing I seem to do every day; stare out into the ocean and write in my journal. Although, this morning, I wasn't calm as usual. I was still fuming and had a headache to add to my bad mood. Definitely not a good start to the day. I don't recall how long it was until someone approached me. Unfortunately for whoever it was, I didn't feel like playing nice today.

"You do know that view ain't gonna change, right?" the man's voice said. I rolled my eyes. The last thing I needed was to deal with him right now. I didn't answer, so he continued. "If it's the view you're writing 'bout, that must be a pretty boring journal."

"What do you want, Sawyer?" I finally asked agitatedly, slapping my pen down onto the paper. I felt his cocky smile.

"Relax, sweetheart, I just wanted to give you something." I looked up at him for the first time. His shirt was off as usual; his blonde hair falling messily over his blue eyes and his hand was outstretched to me. He was handing me a book. I just stared at him, trying to get my point across that I wanted to be left alone. He sighed and took a seat next to me.

"I heard your little fight last night." My head snapped towards him, eyeing him dangerously. "Thought this might cheer you up." He placed the book in my lap. I picked it up and examined it. It was the Outsiders, a book I had read several times during my early school years. I always have loved it. But at the moment, I didn't care what it was; my mind was only focused on the first thing he told me. The nosy little bastard.

I set the book down in the sand and started to get up. "Keep your stupid book, Sawyer. I'm not in the mood." I started to stalk away, unaware that he was following me.

"You don't think you're overreactin' a bit there, Sunshine?" he called after me. I whirled around, watching as he drew near. _Sunshine? Really?_ , I repeated in my head, _more like Thunderstorm_. Once he caught up, he gently handed the book back into my hands. "Keep it." That was the only thing he said before he headed back to his own tent. I stared after him.

I was already bored with my day. Looking for something to do the rest of it, I remembered Sun's garden. I could always help with collecting seeds for it. Plus, Sun was probably one of the only people I could stand to actually talk to right now, so it was a win-win.

It was rather difficult trying to find fruit seeds. I gathered them from rotten fruit spread on the ground—the fruits that others didn't want. One thing was for sure; my hands required a serious washing after this to dispose of all the sticky fruit juice spread on them. But, my gathering was a success—I managed to find a few dozen of each fruit Sun presented to me.

I made my way over to the garden area, struggling to remember where it was. It wasn't too far from the beach and it was in the jungle. I found it in record time, thankfully. The scene in front of me when I arrived made me hesitate for a moment. I put on the best of a smile I could handle and waved a little.

"Hi, Kate. Hi, Jack," I greeted the two others with Sun.

"Hi. Are you helping Sun too?" Kate asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah, are you?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I saw this yesterday. It's a great idea," she said, pausing in the middle. I smiled and nodded. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sun grin in appreciation.

Jack soon left, leaving Sun, Kate and I at the garden. I emptied out my little bag of seeds and showed them to the two women. It turns out Kate had been helping collect them as well; she got a pretty decent amount. Our seeds in total were enough to plant a full garden.

So my afternoon was spent planting the seeds into the ground, along with two of the friends I could actually stand, which wasn't too terrible for a bad day. Kate broke the silence between us, "I can't believe we've been here for over three weeks."

"It's feels like longer to me," I answered.

"Really?" she asked. I smiled up at her. "So why were you going to LA?"

"I was getting an article I wrote published there. My school sent me to Australia for a writing project, and they loved it so much they wanted it to be in the newspaper. The Los Angles newspaper in particular," I explained to her. She looked impressed. "What about you?"

She paused and informed, "I was on my way to Bali. I travel a lot. I was looking forward to exploring the island. Somehow I ended up on a flight to LA, instead." I nodded and looked back down at what I was doing. "I guess that falls under the category 'be careful what you wish for.'" I chuckled.

"… You understood me." I looked up in confusion. Kate was looking at Sun, instead of me. Uh oh, what'd Sun do? "You did, didn't you, you just understood what I said?" I was quick to cover for Sun, shaking my head.

"Kate, she can't speak English," I notified her. Kate glanced at me.

"But she just; she smiled at what I said! She understood me," she exclaimed and turned to Sun. "Sun, you speak English, don't you?"

There was a silence. I attempted at coating the truth again. "Kate, come on, she didn't— "

"Dani, it's okay, she knows now," Sun stated in English, giving her secret away to yet another person. Kate was smiling as her eyes widened and she faced me.

"And you knew, Dani?"

I slowly nodded. Sun broke in quickly, saying, "Please, don't tell anyone." Kate obeyed.

~o~

"Does anybody else know?" Kate asked Sun as we were walking back to the camp.

"Only Michael," she replied. I looked at her, confused.

"Michael?"

"The day you found out, he approached me as well once he gave the watch back. He wanted to know why it was so important. I didn't know what else to do," she informed me. I wonder why Michael hadn't mentioned anything to me. It was probably because he thought I didn't even know.

"And your husband doesn't know?" Kate questioned curiously. Sun stopped and gave her a desperate look. "Don't worry, I can keep a secret."

"I took English lessons in Korea," Sun told both of us. "He doesn't know. It's complicated."

"So why don't you tell him now?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I love him."

"Isn't that a reason why you should tell him?" I asked quietly. Sun shook her head.

"I'm not following you," Kate stated. Sun met eyes with both Kate and I.

"Have you never lied to a man you loved?" she simply answered. I looked down at my feet. Gio. Why did everything I do lately bring Gio into my mind?

~o~

I helped with the fires again that night, only because it made me feel productive. I decided it was much better than just sitting around, staring into the flames routinely. I advanced to the pile of firewood, where Callie apparently felt the same as I. She broke the wood into pieces and tossed them into a smaller pile.

"Hello, Callie." She looked up from the wood and gave a greeting nod towards me.

"Hey," she replied. I grabbed one of the pieces from the pile and copied her.

"How's Charlie doing? I haven't seen him in a while," I asked.

"He's doing better. He's actually talking to me." She looked back up. "He took the Claire thing pretty hard. Whenever the name Ethan is mentioned, he throws a tantrum. It's kinda scary." I chuckled.

"I'll bet," I said.

I retreated back to my tent later on. The first thing my hands rested upon as I stumbled in was a rectangular shaped item. The Outsiders that Sawyer gave me. It was already dark, so I couldn't exactly read the pages, but I opened it anyway. _When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home._ I didn't even need to read the first line—I had it memorized by heart. A ride home, that's what I needed.

The beach was gentle at night. The ocean waves splashed on the surface and I waded my feet in it, no matter how freezing it was. It was calming. I wanted calm. The last couple of days had been hectic and it felt good to take in the ocean scent. I needed to remind myself to get a sea breeze candle when I got home—if I got home.

"Dani!" I stopped in my tracks and sighed. Oh great. "Dani, wait up." Boone looked even messier than normal. I had not seen Locke without him around camp—he must have tried to hunt all alone. Still no boar, so I guess that turned out so well for him.

"Now you're talking to me?" I inquired my voice on an edge. "Why? What could you possibly say— "

His lips came down on mine, cutting off my sentence. My response was extremely slow, but I eventually wrapped my arms around his neck. I forgot everything. I forgot what happened, where we were, why I was mad at him in the first place. This kiss was much longer and deeper than the first. Eventually, I came to my senses and pushed him away from me. I didn't exactly do it harshly, but enough to get my point across. I stared up at him, baffled.

"I thought— "I started. I was so confused. I thought he didn't like me and that it was always Shannon. I really did not know what else to say. I also was slightly pissed off that he seemed to think that he could just come over here and do _that_ and everything would be all better.

"Can I explain?" Boone asked. I gave him a nod, letting him continue. "I've—been in love with Shannon since I was kid. Since our parents got married. It's a long time to be in love with someone and I—I never thought that anyone else would make me feel the same way. And then there was you.

"Yeah, I had always liked being around you and I never even stopped to think that you felt that way. And when you kissed me, I got scared."

"Why?" I questioned him. He stared into my eyes.

"I got scared because everything that I had felt for her over the process of twelve years… came back suddenly—but only it wasn't for her, it was for you. And that—that scared me shitless." The corner of my mouth twitched upward.

"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked quietly. My arms were crossed defensively, although I was slowly letting my guard drop as he confessed.

"It wasn't until today when I realized that I needed to let go," he told me. "So do you think you'd mind giving me a second chance?" I gulped, still cautious and reluctant.

"I-I don't know," I whispered weakly. "How do I know you're not going to change your mind and go back to Shannon or something? How do I know you're not going to hurt me?"

He paused, actually debating. "I don't know how much a promise from me might mean to you. But I know, without a doubt, I'm not going to change my mind. It won't happen. And I understand if you're reluctant, _I get it._ But I would really, _really_ appreciate if you could trust me, and give me the chance. Please."

I stared back into his eyes. He seemed genuine. And after a long pause, I nodded. He grinned widely, almost relieved and I couldn't help but smile back, my stomach flip-flopping a bit. I got on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, and broke away, holding up one finger. "One chance."

As we walked back toward my tent, hand in hand (a bit awkwardly, I might add), he broke the silence. "Who's Gio?" My head snapped hurriedly towards him.

"What?" I questioned, sounding more frantic than I had hoped.

"Last night when I was leaving, you yelled 'you're just like Gio'. Who's Gio?"

I was silent for a long time. "I didn't mean it. I was just mad."

"I can't really be offended if I don't even know who he is," he replied, the corner of his mouth rising. I finally sighed and close my eyes.

"Giovanni Rossi—my ex. We were together for three years. I was— head over heels. I thought we were going to be together forever. I… lied to him once and he… broke my heart. The lie itself wasn't a big deal, but he didn't take it too lightly," I explained steadily, resisting the urge to touch the cheek that had been formerly bruised as a harsh reminder of that day. I didn't want to meet Boone's eyes. "I've been _terrified_ of getting close to people ever since, especially men. I'm always afraid they're going to hurt me the same way he did. And when you…" I felt myself being pulled into an embrace.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," he whispered into my hair, stroking it. "I shouldn't have asked." I shook my head and mouthed 'it's okay'. He kissed the top of my head. I smiled. "I promise it won't happen again—not with me."

"Are you going to stay with me tonight?" I said my voice low. I felt his grin widen.

"Why wouldn't I?" he replied. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. I was still hesitant, but I kissed him back anyway, and afterward laid down resting my head on his chest. The tender stroking of my hair made my eyes droopy. I was gradually lulled to sleep by the soothing sound of Boone's breathing. How ironic is it that the day I spent hating him turned out to be the day I admired him the most?

~o~

 **If it was OOC for Boone, I'm sorry. I tried to make him as in character as possible.**


	10. Hallucinations and Tests

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

Chapter 10, Day 26-27

Callie

 _My very first vacation was to San Francisco, California. It wasn't even beyond my home state and yet it was the greatest vacation I'd ever been on. I had traveled with my mother nearly six hours from LA to San Francisco just to celebrate my 5_ _th_ _birthday._

 _My only memory I recall from that trip was my birthday, in which my mother urged me to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. I was terrified of heights, even back then. I repeatedly refused, whimpering to myself. "It's too high, mommy! I can't do it!" I cried, obviously panicked. My mother flashed a warm smile at me, the one that had always soothed me in the roughest of times._

 _"Don't be afraid," she assured and reached next to her to shake the railing of the bridge. "Look, it's nice and sturdy. Nothing's going to happen to you."_

 _As convincing as she was, I didn't believe her. I was as stubborn as I am today. "I'll fall!" I whined, stomping my foot. She shook her head in response, and her blonde curly hair—so like mine—fell around her shoulders._

 _"No, baby, you won't fall. I'll always be there to catch you," she replied softly and compassionately. I stared down the bridge, debating. I finally grasped my mother's hand and took my first steps across the beautiful bridge. Yes, it was extraordinarily high, but everything was all right._

 _That was the simpler times. Before I was diagnosed; before I met my father; before high school; before we traveled to Australia and returned on Flight 815. What I would give to go back to those times._

~o~

Streams of water fell down my face as I poured a bottle on my head, ridding the sweat and dirt from my hair and face. The water was cold but it felt refreshing. In the past week, I had really done nothing, which was a change for me. I didn't wish to get involved in anything that included danger or adventure. I decided that wouldn't be fair to Charlie.

Speaking of him: "Hey, Callie, you seen Claire's luggage?" I faced him and shook my head.

"Not that I know of," I replied, shaking out my hair. He sighed, frustrated, and continued on his merry way. "Bye!" I added sarcastically. He's been avoiding everyone up until two days ago. It was something Rose said to him that made him snap out of his whole depression phase, but he was different. I don't imagine he will be the equivalent of what he was before until Claire walks through those bushes. She had really made an impact on him somehow.

Feeling bored, I trekked out in the jungle for fresh fruit I could find. Anything sounded amazing right now—I was starving. I wasn't completely afraid of the jungle anymore, but I wasn't enthusiastic about being in it. But I'm not a lazy person and after a week of doing nothing I needed to go, well… do something.

I froze when I heard voices coming from a clearing in the jungle. I cautiously hid behind a tree, praying that it was people from our camp. I peeked out slowly from the dense bark and breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Locke, Boone and Walt… and Vincent the Dog. I wonder if Walt knew that his father was looking for him.

"You can do better than that."

"You might want to take it easy on him."

I raised my eyebrows at the scene before me. In Walt's hand was a knife and it was aimed at one of the giant trees in front of him. John Locke was seriously giving a little kid knife throwing lessons. He was absolutely insane. "Are you serious?" I asked, coming out from behind my tree. The three faced me, startled, but I only looked at Locke. "You're teaching a little kid how to throw knives?"

"I'm not a little kid," Walt defended.

"You're ten. That's considered little," I replied.

"He wanted to learn," Locke broke in, giving a small smile. "I felt obliged to teach. I suppose you're going to tell someone?"

I looked away with a smirk. "No, I'm not going to tell anyone. I would, however like to observe."

"You may," Locke answered, his smile remaining when he turned back to Walt. He placed his hands on a knot in the tree. "See this knot, Walt? I want you to aim for it. Focus on it. Picture it in your mind's eye. You know what that is, right?"

"Like a picture in your head?" Walt replied. Locke nodded, handing the knife to him. I tensed up, preparing to back up if that knife bounced off the tree at me.

"That's right," Locke stated. "Now do it again. But see it. See it before you do it. Visualize the path." He let go of the knife, giving full possession of it to the ten year old boy. As he got ready to launch it, I exchanged a glance at Vincent—as weird as it sounded, even the dog looked frightened.

I held my breath as Walt hurdled the knife at the tree, fully aware that if that knife went slightly off course, it could hit Boone right in the chest. But I took one second to blink, and when I reopened my eyes, it was wedged in the tree, right where Locke had been pointing to.

"He actually did it," I said in awe to myself. I grinned a little as the little kid cheered about how he actually saw the path. I was just glad he didn't injure anyone. I turned my attention to a new figure approaching us. Oh, crap, this can't be good.

"What the hell is going on?" Michael yelled, and snatched the knife from Walt's grip. "Give me that!" Walt tried to explain and protest to defend himself and Locke, but his father ordered him to return to the camp. "You gave my boy a knife?" Michael turned on Locke dangerously. I rolled my eyes. He overreacted to everything.

I snapped back to attention when Michael spoke to me. "And what exactly are you doing out here?" I shrugged. "Did Charlie let you come out here?"

"I guess. I was getting fruit," I replied nonchalantly.

"And you decided to come out here and not tell anybody about this?"

I nodded. "Pretty much. He wanted to learn. It's productive."

"It's dangerous!" he retorted, his voice raising. "Man, what would your parents think of you approving of this?" I almost laughed.

"Oh, please. My mom was more childish than I am," I snickered. The smile dropped from my face. "And my mother's dead and my father's in prison. I don't think either would care."

"That explains a lot," I heard him mutter under his breath. I growled angrily.

"Excuse me?" I started to move towards him, but Boone held me back.

"All right, that's enough. Stop picking on her," Locke cut in, which only switched Michael's irritation back onto him. Michael was ticked off with him. He even once stuck the knife threateningly in Locke's face. Like I said, he overreacted to everything. I guess I understand his point, but I was too annoyed with him to care. He didn't know me, how was it his job to assume anything about me?

I jumped a little when Boone attacked Michael, grabbing the knife from his hand. Hypocrite! He was the one that held me back in the first place. "Hey, stop!" I exclaimed when Michael slugged pretty boy in the face. Locke managed to break them up.

"Easy, easy, easy. You're the one that was waving the knife around. He was just trying to make sure you didn't hurt someone," Locke interjected. I helped Boone off the ground, muttering 'idiot' under my breath. "Michael, I know it's been difficult to bond with your son. You know why he's formed an attachment to me? Because I treat him like an adult. You still treat him like a boy."

"He's ten years old," Michael declared sharply. Well, their argument went on like this, of course, until Michael ordered, "Stay away from me and my son." I raised my eyebrows at him as he left.

"Well, that was fun," I stated sarcastically and retreated from the site, leaving Locke and Boone to stare after me.

~o~

The temperature wasn't terrible the next morning; it allowed for a cool sea breeze. Around me, I gathered certain information on the people of the beach. Rose was already enjoying her day, being the optimist that she was. She clutched her ring as she walked along the shore of the beach. I have to admit, her sense of hope was admirable. Boone and Dani were near Dani's tent, holding hands and smiling at each other. I have no idea when they got together, but everyone saw it coming.

Shannon and Sayid were also talking and laughing, heading down to the caves with the French maps in his hands. Sawyer as always sat next to his tent, a book perched in front of him. Tracey and Steve were involved in a conversation. And here I was alone, just observing, which actually didn't bother me. Sometimes it was nice to just be alone and get some time inside my own head. It didn't happen often, usually because I tried to stay out of my mind and let my heart do the thinking considering my mind wasn't exactly the most reliable. But still, it was relaxing every once in a while.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Walt coming near me. I smiled at him as he approached. "Hey, kid. What's up?" He sat down next to me, draping his arms across his knees.

"Callie, can you keep a secret?" he requested. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, god; what'd you do now?" I asked.

"Nothing!" I raised an eyebrow. "I was just wondering. I wanted to keep on taking the knife lessons from Mr. Locke. If I did, can you not tell anyone?" I stared at him for a minute.

"Shouldn't you listen to you father?" I tested him. I wasn't serious though; I hated sounding like an adult. Walt hesitated.

"Do you listen to yours?" he asked.

I snorted. "No!" I answered laughing. "He's a jerk. I didn't even know him until I was seven." I looked over at Walt, realizing I wasn't supporting my case much. "Not that you shouldn't listen to yours though."

"I didn't know Michael until two days before the plane left. He's supposed to be my real father but… he's not, you know?" he explained to me. I looked at the boy in surprise. I had no idea that he wasn't aware that he had a biological father until a month ago. Having experienced first hand daddy issues, I almost considered him lucky. But I guess it was still unfortunate. He _was_ just a little kid.

I nodded. "So you won't tell anyone?"

"I won't tell anyone," I agreed. I lightly pushed his shoulder. "Just make sure not to get caught this time, kid." He smiled.

"And I'm not that much of a little kid," he protested. I smirked.

"You're in elementary school," I replied. "To me that makes you a little kid." I paused. "But you'll get there." His smile widened.

~o~

Later in the day, I headed to the caves to fill up my water bottle. I was able to just barely dodge the next blow out between Locke, Michael and Walt. It went worst than the last one. I snuck past in the background, making sure not to be noticed. When things calmed down, I knelt near the pool, dipping my bottle into it. Screwing on the cap, I glanced around the area. I saw Walt sneakily grab Vincent's leash and take off. Narrowing my eyes, I reluctantly started to follow.

I, for the most part, stayed within sight of him, but made sure that he didn't hear me. I just wanted to ensure that he didn't get himself into any danger. Look at me being the responsible one. I jumped as twig behind me cracked. Rotating around, I froze and my eyes widened. Oh, no. Not this again.

The figure of my mother flashed me her warm smile, the soothing smile. I shook my head, chanting to myself, "It's just a hallucination, it's just a hallucination, it's just a hallucination." The figure stepped slowly towards me, her smile remaining.

"Hello, Callie," the figure of my mother greeted sweetly. My hands shook as I backed up a few paces.

"You're not real," I whispered, shaking my head frantically. I felt tears welling in my eyes, but I wouldn't allow them to fall. I couldn't. Reaching out, the figure touched my bare shoulder. Her skin was warm, soft and very much _not_ transparent, unlike most of my hallucinations. "Please. I love you, mom. But _please_ , leave me alone. I can't do this. I can't mourn you properly if you keep showing up like this. P-please leave me alone. You're not real," I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Why would you think I'm not real?" my mother asked calmly, stroking my hair. I gulped silently.

"You're dead. Charlie and I buried you. You can't be here," I said, my voice trembling, as much as I tried to sound collected. She grinned once more.

"I am dead, Cal." I struggled to form words several times. I had no idea what to say. Am I really talking to the ghost of my dead mother? It couldn't be possible. "Follow me." She tore her hand away from my hair and started off towards the trail Walt took. I wasn't sure if I should oblige or not; but Walt _had_ gone down this path. Maybe I could locate him again. Reluctantly, I pursued.

This woman could not actually be my mother. This wasn't her personality. If her ghost came to me, she'd be joking around with me, trying to make it seem like her absence from the living world wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. She would explain to me what was going on and she would make sure I was alright. This wasn't my mother.

"Who are you?" I murmured. Her blue-green eyes—a reflection of my own—met mine. She didn't look confused, as my mother would have.

"What do you mean, Callie?" she questioned innocently. I crossed my arms, looking more confident than I felt.

I shook my head. "You're not my mother. Who. Are. You? What are you?" I demanded harshly. The figure of my mother—whatever it was—paused, before smiling once more.

"You'll know in time," she responded. Her voice was dark, and it was disturbing hearing my mother's—my loving, kind mother's—voice sound like that. She continued on the path, not sparing a second glance to make sure I was following. However, I did follow, falling in step close behind her. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the figure. I knew it wasn't my mother. I knew my mother would never come back. So why did she keep haunting me?

"Where are we going anyway?" I questioned, breaking the silence.

"You'll see."

"Why can't you just tell me?" I growled, my irritation sparking, and tears of frustration building up in my eyes. The figure did not answer, nor did she even acknowledge the fact that I spoke at all. I didn't talk afterwards, and focused on keeping my balance through the rugged terrain.

Finally, a faint noise sounded through the forest. Followed by another, and then another. I stopped near a clearing, not even noticing that the figure of my mother had also stopped. Listening intently, I picked up the sound of a growl, and rustling. And then a scream. I was alert by now. What the hell could that be?

"Your friend Walt is in danger," the figure spoke in a gentle tone. My eyes widened, and I turned to catch a glimpse of her expression. She appeared as calm as ever and even slightly amused or maybe interested. Her eyes met mine. "I want you to help him."

"What do you mean he's in danger? What's wrong? What did you do to him?" I spat out frantically. She chuckled, causing my eyes to narrow at her.

"Oh naïve Callie, I didn't do anything," she answered bemusedly. She took her eyes away, staring back out into the forest as if expecting something. "And I mean just that. He's in danger. And I need you to help him. It's your test."

I raised my eyebrow. "My _test_? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I could feel my temper rising at each passing second; I could have an attack if I wasn't too careful. But at the moment, I could care less.

"I could explain," she said. "But do you really want to risk a little boy's life for your own curiosity?"

I glared at the figure, but my attention was broken by a loud thud nearby. And suddenly, the figure of my mother was gone. I did a 360, but she was nowhere to be found. Another loud growl sounded. I bolted in the direction I heard it coming from. Finally, I saw Walt no less than 20 feet from where I was standing. I was shocked at the sight.

Walt was protected only by a large tree stump and some heavy vines surrounding it. Scratching and biting at the tree was a freaking polar bear. Another one. Where the hell were all these polar bears coming from? Maybe Sawyer was right about Bear Village. Walt's scream snapped me from my astonished thoughts.

Anxiety took over me for a moment, and I stood frozen there hyperventilating and shaking. I was supposed to help him. How? There's no way in hell I could take on a polar bear. Not alone. Another scream caused me to jump and get a hold of myself. I knew what to do.

"Hang on Walt, I'm getting help!" I called out to him. I turned on my heel and sprinted at top speed to the caves. I had to get someone; Locke, Jack, anybody. I suddenly crashed into a body, knocking me off my feet. A wave of relief washed over me as I looked up into the faces of Locke and Michael.

"Walt's in trouble! He just—follow me!" I gasped out. I saw Michael's expression transform to complete horror, and he wasted no time in following my orders. I led them to Walt and the polar bear, feeling another shock of relief in the fact that they were exactly as I left them, and that Walt still hadn't been harmed by the bear.

I could only watch in terror as Michael and Locke quickly formulated a plan. I hid behind the tree they started to climb, shaking terribly. I was never as brave as I led people to believe. Right now I felt like the most useless person ever; I felt sick and like crying. No, wait—I _was_ crying. I felt both guilty and relieved, because I realized that if nobody else had been around, Walt probably would have been dead by now because I was too cowardly to do anything.

My fear washed away little by little as I witnessed Locke and Michael's strategy slowly coming together and efficiently working. Soon, the bear was stalking away with several wounds and Walt was safely in Michael's embrace. I was still firmly planted behind the large tree, shaking. Yep, whatever 'test' this was, I for sure failed.

"You all right, Callie?" I heard Locke call from up in the tree.

"Honestly?" I said, my voice quivering slightly. "I don't think so. Can we _please_ go back to the caves? _Please_?" Locke chuckled a bit.

"Yes, yes, let's go."

~o~

The tension between Michael, Walt and Locke had officially calmed down after that incident. I smiled at the father and son from a distance as they smiled and laughed together. I still carried a bit of self-hate about earlier. God, why was I such a coward? Why did I have to be this way? With a heavy feeling weighing in my chest, I carried two full water bottled in my hands, making my way over to my uncle. I noticed something in his hands that I was almost positive he didn't have before.

"Hey," I greeted. He must have jumped ten feet in the air and hid whatever it was behind his back. He smiled innocently.

"Hey," he answered, maneuvering when I tried to peek behind his back.

"What was that?"

"What was what?

"What you were just holding?"

"Holding? I wasn't bloody holding anything."

"Yes you were. What are you hiding?"

"I think you've gone mental, Cal, too much time in the sun."

I launched for whatever was in his hands. "Give it!" I managed to grab the book-like object out of his hands. Immediately, I recognized it and gaped at him.

"Charlie! Is this Claire's dairy?"

"No…" he answered guiltily.

"It is! You were reading her diary! Charlie!"

"Okay, okay! I was reading her diary, I know, I'm scum. But just give it back for a second, there was something I saw!" He reached for it, but I jumped out of the way.

"No! You can't just read through someone's diary, it's private!"

"Cal, _please_! I saw something that might aid in her rescue."

That statement is what got through to me. Reluctantly, I handed the book back to my uncle, and he flipped back to the page he was reading. I took a seat next to him, peering over at the neatly written words, letting my own curiosity take over. Charlie pointed to a sentence and I read through it.

"Here. She mentions dreaming about a black rock," he stated. I blinked.

"I don't get it."

"The Black Rock, it was something Sayid mentioned."

"Yeah, I still don't get it."

Charlie gave up and instead tried Kate and Sayid, who were sitting by a fire close to us. Sleepily, I shut my eyes, exhausted by the day's events. Being bipolar, I rarely felt tired this late at night, so I cherished in every moment I actually could sleep. I let sleep take over this time, letting the soothing crackling of the fire ease my mind.

I was out throughout the whole night, which was a very rare occasion for me. When I woke up on the morning of October 19, I was met with one of the biggest birthday surprises I've ever had.

Claire was back.

~o~

 **Callie and I actually share a birthday, which was indeed yesterday, so I decided I wanted to get this out today in honor of it.**


	11. Troubled Friends

Chapter 11, Day 28-34

 _Callie_

For the first time in a long while, I had slept through the night. When I woke up in the morning, it was bright outside and normal morning bustle was occurring around me. I assumed it was around nine, maybe half past nine, which surprised me greatly. Maybe I was just so exhausted from my lack of sleep that I managed to pass out. Nevertheless, it felt good to actually get some nice shut-eye, particularly on my fifteenth birthday.

I noticed something a bit off about the crowd this morning. They were more alert, more talkative. In a way, the aura had a bit of a cheerful, relieved note. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I got the shock of my life when I reopened them.

Claire.

She was sitting nearby. Just sitting there.

I rolled my eyes. "It's just a hallucination, she isn't really there, Callie," I scolded myself. I rubbed my eyes once more, blinking the image of Claire away from my mind. But when I looked up again, she was still there. But—she couldn't be. Had we found her? Had we really finally found my dear friend?

My suspicions were confirmed when I saw another survivor acknowledge Claire. So I was definitely not the only one who saw her. A giant smile broke across my face and ran to her, calling her name. "Claire, are you alright?! Where were you?" I questioned her. She gave me a confused expression, a fearful tint in her blue eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. Do I know you?" she asked. My smile dropped, and I stared back at her puzzled.

"Claire, it's me. Callie. I'm your friend," I answered her. Her fear turned to guilt and tears pooled in her eyes. I immediately knelt to her side, pushing her hair gently and cautiously out of her watery eyes. She gazed back at me hopelessly, a few tears slipping down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry. I just—I don't remember," she said. I waited patiently for her to explain. "I don't remember the crash; I don't remember the past month; I don't remember _any_ of you. I wish I could, I've been trying _so_ hard. But—it's all gone."

She looked so terrified, so _upset_ , that it broke my heart. I couldn't imagine what Ethan and his people could have done to her to make her forget everything. To think that anyone would actually hurt her made me furious. She was so sweet and so gentle—she didn't deserve that. I softly placed my hand on the top of hers. "It's okay. You don't have to try to remember now. I promise you're safe with me."

She slowly nodded, and let me sit next to her. "Have you met Charlie?" I asked her. It seemed so weird asking her that, considering her and my uncle had been nearly inseparable for nearly a month. She nodded again, managing a small smile.

"Yeah. Yeah, we met last night," she said. "Well, I guess we met a month ago. But I only remember last night so…"

I smiled at her. "Yeah. Well, I'm his niece. We were all pretty close before all of this happened."

"He said we were friends." I nodded at her.

"You are," I responded. I took a pause, looking up at her face once more. "He cares about you a lot. I can tell." A ghost of a smile appeared. She didn't speak for a while, as she was clearly looking for something to say.

"What—what day is it?" Claire asked me.

"The 19th of October, 2004. I guess our one month mark will be in three days. Fun right."

She sighed, surprised. "My birthday's in eight days. I'll be 22."

I chuckled a little bit. "Well, we're eight days apart then. My birthday's today. Guess I got some birthday present, huh?" Her expression changed. She was no longer crying, and she seemed much more comfortable than a few minutes ago. She smiled genuinely this time.

"Oh, happy birthday! You're a Libra," she blurted. I laughed at her sudden enthusiasm. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she's already said that to me before.

"Yep, that I am," I mused. She turned her whole body to face me, which was much more difficult than it seemed with her pregnant belly.

"Can I do a reading? Like a horoscope? I'd be nice to do something I actually remember," she smiled, causing me to grin in response. I gave her a nod.

"Sure."

~o~

Later that night I was sitting near the pond, dunking some dirty shirts into the fresh water to wash them. I had chatted with Claire nearly all afternoon. She was still the same Claire, but a part of me wished that talking to me would have brought at least a few memories back. Nevertheless, it was fantastic to have her back after so long without her.

I smiled as I saw Charlie approaching me, the first time I had seen him all day. He sat down next to me. "Ethan," was all he said. I frowned, confused.

"…Ethan?" I asked, urging him to continue.

"He came back today." My eyes widened. No, he couldn't come back here. That was dangerous for all of us. "He wants Claire back. He said he'll have her back or else he's going to kill one of us each day."

"What?" I exclaimed. "When? H-how?" He shrugged, shaking his head.

"I dunno. But we're _not_ letting that happen. No matter what," he replied, meeting my eyes with determination. "Some of the others have taken to setting up a perimeter—make sure he doesn't go past them, you know?"

I nodded. A part of me felt like that even this perimeter wasn't going to work—he's outsmarted us before, he could easily do it again. But I had to hope, for the sake of Claire, and anyone else that might get in Ethan's way. "How could she have lost all her memory?" I questioned.

"Well, Jack thinks that it's some kinda trauma-reset button thing, but _I'm_ not bloody buying it. I think Ethan did something to her to make her forget," Charlie explained.

"I just wonder how she escaped…" I pondered.

Before Charlie could answer, Hurley passed by us, waving at me. "Happy Birthday Callie!" he called out. I grinned at him.

"Thanks Hurley!"

I heard Charlie sigh and turned back to face him. His eyes were wide and guilty. "Bloody hell. I can't believe I forgot. I haven't forgotten in 14 sodding years and I forget _now_." I laughed softly.

"It's okay, don't worry about it—"

"No, it's not! I'm the scum of the earth; I forgot my own niece's birthday!"

" _Charlie_ , it's okay. I promise. There were more important things going on today than me being a day older," I assured, smiling at him. He paused, still looking guilty.

"Fine. But I promise I'll make it up next year, okay?" he offered.

"Deal." He grinned, and kissed my temple.

"Just God help us we won't still be on this island by then," he added.

~o~

Unlike the previous night, my mind had worked up again and I got only little sleep, as usual. I spent most of the morning lying down on my "bed", attempting to block out the streaming light of morning. It got worse when everyone began to arise from their slumber, beginning the normal morning chatter.

Later on in the afternoon, survivors living on the beach reached us with the news that Ethan had indeed stuck to his word. One of us, a man named Scott, was dead. He was found this morning. As I predicted, Ethan had outsmarted us again. I felt bad for not attending the funeral—the very first funeral to ever occur on our island—but I just didn't want to walk all the way down to the beach. I also wanted to keep Claire company, because most of the others were avoiding her like the plague. It wasn't fair to her considering she had no idea what was going on.

Some of the others—Jack, Locke and Sayid in particular—formulated a plan to get Ethan off our backs once and for all. While sitting with Claire, I listening to Charlie argue with them about it. And quite frankly, I agreed with him. They wanted to use Claire as live bait. Knowing what this guy was capable of, I didn't want Claire or anyone else near him. But when Claire got up to offer herself, I knew this plan of action was happening whether I liked it or not.

As I watched the group head off to the beach, I felt someone sit down next to me. "Oh, hey, Dani," I greeted the older girl. "How's life down at the beach?"

"Hello," she said with a smile. "Well, I definitely don't want to be there today, since Scott died this morning. I'm not too fond of being next."

"Well, if Jack and them's plan works out, hopefully the 'next' will be Ethan," I responded. She gave a short nod, her brown curls bouncing.

"Yes, I heard about that. I don't think it's a good idea," she addressed.

"Join the club!" I agreed, with got a slight chuckle out of Dani.

Charlie, standing a few feet away, suddenly got up and left, heading towards the beach. I narrowed my eyes. I hoped he didn't decide to follow them into the jungle. Ethan could hurt him instead, as he had done previously. I was already terribly anxious for Claire. Please, _please_ , don't let anything happen to her.

I fell asleep earlier that night while watching the fire, nervously playing over negative thoughts in my head. I prayed that in the morning, when I woke up, everyone would still be alive.

"Callie," someone whispered. "Callie." My eyes fluttered open. Charlie was standing in front of me, placing a hand gently on one side of my face.

"E'rythin' k?" I mumbled through my slumber.

"Everything will be okay now. I killed Ethan," he informed me quietly. I should have been shocked, scared even. But in a way, I felt assured. Safe.

"It's 'bout time someone killed him," I approved. He gave me a small smile, brushing my hair out of my face.

"Everything will be okay now," he repeated. "Go back to sleep. You're safe now."

I happily obliged.

~o~

 _Dani (Day 32-34)_

"I can't believe you don't like Nirvana, I mean really. _Nirvana_!"

I giggled. "I never said I didn't like them. I just don't listen to them."

"But I mean, you must have heard like, their popular songs, _at least_."

I shrugged nonchalantly, causing Boone to shake his head both jokingly and in genuine disbelief. I bumped my shoulder into his playfully. "I _guess so_ , but sorry most countries tend to play music that's popular in their own language," I laughed. "They _could_ always start playing English songs and hope the Italians eventually understand what they're saying, but…"

This time Boone shoved me, a light smile playing on his face. The past 10 days we had been together had been—to my surprise—easy. It still felt uncomfortable and a bit scary for me, and granted we weren't the most compatible couple (as Claire mentioned to me, Taurus and Sagittarius couples usually don't get on very well). But still, I liked being around him, and it was nice to not feel so lonely anymore as I had in the early weeks on the island. Though bullheaded and a bit standoff-ish at times, he was kind—much kinder than my last boyfriend, and I was starting to realize that maybe having a relationship isn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be.

Loud voices from down the beach snapped Boone and I out of our joking manner. I watched Jin angrily try to cover Sun, who was daringly wearing a bikini, how scandalous. I rolled my eyes, feeling terribly sorry for my friend, as well as rage towards her controlling husband. In a way, Jin reminded me a bit of my ex. I huffed angrily as the confrontation ended with Sun slapping an interfering Michael.

"What were they saying?" Boone asked.

Glaring out into the water, I growled, "He didn't like her choice of outfit."

"I don't get why she would stay with him when he treats her like that. Or defend him."

Biting my lip, I nodded in agreement, not having the heart to mention that I stayed with someone like that for three years. Plus, there was _something_ Sun saw in her husband that maybe the rest of us didn't see. I didn't like it, but she could make her own decisions. I just hoped they were the right ones.

~o~

That night, I wandered through the tents and fires set up along the beach to check on my friend. Boone had left with Locke to hunt sometime in the afternoon, and I had spent most of the day working on my creative writing skills. I hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of what happened with Sun and her husband, and being stuck on a deserted island is enough to give anyone a few story ideas, needless to say. The only other option would be to help with the raft Michael was building, and I knew I didn't want to be anywhere near that man, so writing it was. I reached Kate's tent, where I knew Sun would be, and stumbled upon their conversation.

"What changed him?" I heard Kate say. I quietly stepped into the tent, careful not to startle my two friends.

"Sun?" I offered as a greeting.

"Hello, Dani," she smiled.

"I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I saw what happened… in fact, I think _everyone_ saw what happened."

"I am fine," Sun responded firmly. "Really, I am," she added, meeting Kate's eyes. When she looked away, Kate and I shared a rueful look.

The three of us turned our heads towards the beach as several people ran past us, followed by distant shouting. Kate and Sun pushed themselves off the ground, and the three of us ran towards the sounds. From behind the trees, something was casting an orange glow. _Oh no_ , I thought with a start. That was the spot where the raft was being built. Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. Michael's raft was encased in violent flames that were only growing larger despite the survivors desperately trying to snuff it. I stood close to Kate and Sun as we watched in horror. Michael, who had been running around frantically trying to save his raft, suddenly turned to face Sun angrily.

"Where the hell is he?!" he shouted. I jumped as I felt a hand on my shoulder, but relaxed when I realized it was Boone. He pulled me a few steps back from the man, but to my frustration, also from Sun. Michael came closer to her and repeated, "Where is he?"

I started forward to jump to my friend's defense, but Boone's grip on my shoulder tightened, keeping me in place. In a flash of anger, I shoved his hand off and glared dangerously at him. He eased up a bit, but still wouldn't let me go towards them. _This_ is what I meant by "not the most compatible couple". Thankfully, Kate placed herself in between them like I was about to, which made me feel more secure about staying in the background.

"Her husband did this and she knows!" Michael accused. "You're trying to protect him now, is that it?!"

"She was with me and Dani, she doesn't know anything," Kate argued. The fight was broken when Michael's son attempted to put out the fire, and Sun took the opportunity to run off. With one last glare at both Michael and my boyfriend, I followed in her footsteps and left.

I reached my tent a few minutes after, deciding that I would talk to Sun later. She was probably on her way to find her husband anyway, and I was definitely not going to interfere in that. Though I wasn't too fond of Jin, I didn't think he would have done this… would he? I'm sure that he wanted to get off this island, just like everybody else and no amount of dislike towards Michael would have caused him to destroy his chance. I _despised_ Michael, but my desire to go home was a hell of a lot greater. But I didn't know who else would have wanted to take revenge on Michael. Hopefully, Sun would be able to find something out.

I forgave Boone, who arrived at my tent about an hour after I did and apologized for stopping me. I fell asleep with my head on his chest and his tan jacket around my shoulders. In the morning that followed, I woke up alone, which was common. Usually, I didn't mind, but sometimes it made me feel lonely. I stepped out of my tent, his large jacket still wrapped around me, and was immediately met with almost 6 feet of long legs and blonde hair.

"Is my brother in there?"

"Good morning to you too," I mumbled, squinting my eyes against the glare of the sun. Shannon rolled her eyes. I sighed exasperatedly. "No, he's not."

"Then where is he?" she demanded.

"No idea, he was gone when I woke up."

"Oh yeah right, you two are attached at the hip."

"If I could, I would find the closest lie detector test for you but seeing as we're on a deserted island…" The girl glared at me, causing me to sigh again. It was too early for this. "Look, he's probably with Locke or something, he always goes hunting with him."

Shannon stomped off. "Have a good day!" I called out sarcastically at her retreating form. She was always just so… unpleasant. I don't know how Boone or Sayid dealt with her half the time.

My day was off to a _great_ start, and it just seemed to get better. I was sitting with Sun later on in the day (avoiding the elephant in the room by using mindless chit-chat and hoping not to stress her out more) when the next fight was initiated. Sun ran off in mid-sentence to aid her bruised husband, and reluctantly I followed.

Another argument was taking place, mostly between Michael and Sawyer and the people attempting to calm them down. Sun had eyes only for her husband. He stared back at her, and I almost felt like I was intruding on a moment.

"You don't believe me either?" Jin spoke in Korean to his wife.

"What'd he say?" Michael inquired harshly. Sun and I both ignored him.

"It's not me! I didn't start the fire."

"You say something to me?!" Michael roared, charging at Jin while several people held him back. He sharply turned to me. "You, translate!"

My eyes narrowed, fixing him with the coldest glare I could manage. "I won't until Sun tells me to," I spoke in a low voice.

"Are you serious?!" he screamed, now bolting for me. "Do you _not_ get what's going on here? One of the two people who can translate Korean, and she's no goddamn help at all!"

"Sun is my best friend, and I think you're a rude piece of shit, who do you think I'm going to choose," I snapped. Michael lunged at me again, while a few of the men held him back once more. Sun finally snapped out of her trance, placing a hand on my shoulder protectively. I didn't even care if Michael hurt me, I was too furious at him. Though his concentration shifted from me to Jin once the Korean man spoke again. That was when Michael started punching him. Jack and the rest of the men backed off, letting them have their fight. Sun started to step closer, and shook of my hand when I tried to hold her back. Michael raised his fist for another blow to Jin's face…

"STOP IT!" Sun suddenly screamed, catching all of us off guard. Stunned, I realized that she just spoke English in front of everyone, including her husband. "Leave him alone!" I looked around at the shocked faces surrounding us. Even Michael looked surprised even though he already knew she spoke English. Jin's expression was a mixture of shock, confusion and, to my surprise, hurt. "He didn't burn your raft," Sun announced.

There was a long pause in the group, which was broken by Charlie blurting, "You speak English?"

"Didn't see that one coming," Hurley added.

Jack stepped towards Sun, "You understood us all this time? Why didn't you say anything?"

Instead of answering Jack's question, Sun addressed Michael in a voice that shook with emotion, "Your raft was already on fire when he arrived. He burned his hands trying to put it out."

"Then why did he run?" Michael questioned. Sun repeated this question to her husband, to which she received no response. "Exactly, that's what I thought."

"She's not lying!" I exclaimed.

"And how would you know?" Michael said confrontationally.

"How would _you_?!" I barked heatedly.

"My husband is many things," Sun interrupted, "but he is not a liar."

"You're going to lecture us about lying, Betty?" Sawyer spoke up. "From the look on his face, even your old man here didn't know you spoke English. How do we know she's not covering for him?"

"Shut up, Sawyer!" I spat at the Southerner.

"She isn't lying!" Locke cried, appearing behind Sawyer. "Why would he burn the raft?"

"He's been after me since day one! He—"

Locke thankfully cut Michael off, but not before I got the chance to get in a good, irritated eye roll. "Okay, it's personal, by why take it out on our best chance of getting off the island? Why would any one of us block an attempt to get home? We're so intent on pointing the finger at one another that we're ignoring the simple undeniable truth that the problem isn't here, it's there." The older man pointed to the jungle as he said this, and continued passionately. "They've attacked us, sabotaged us, abducted us, murdered us. Maybe it's time we stop blaming us and start worrying about them! We're not the only people on this island and we all know it!"

We watched as Locke walked back into the jungle after he delivered his speech. Part of me thought he had a point… and the other part thought he was a raging lunatic that was trying to terrify us. But what he had said effectively ended the argument, caused our group to reluctantly disperse, and cleared Jin's name. Still, the damage was done. The raft was still destroyed, feuds between certain ones of us were stronger, and now Sun's relationship was potentially ruined.

~o~

I sat with Boone near the fire early the next morning. Once again, his giant tan jacket was draped over my shoulders to block against the morning cold, and my head rested comfortably on his shoulder. I cherished moments like this, when there was serenity in the air and for the most part, everyone was finally relaxed. Shannon and Sayid were near, cuddled incredibly close to one another. Every now and then I caught Boone glancing over, the corners of his mouth twitching into frown.

"Does that bother you?" I asked after a while. I wasn't jealous, nor was I angry. I knew he wanted me now. I was, however, curious.

"A little," he responded truthfully after a pause. "But… it's okay. I just hope she doesn't get hurt." I smiled to myself, admiring his personal growth. He pulled me closer, running his fingers along my back under the jacket. I practically purred. "How's Sun doing?" he asked interestedly.

"I think she'll be fine," I said. "Honestly, I'm glad this all happened. Not because I wanted her to get hurt but because—well—I guess I'm glad that she finally was able to get away from her husband. I know what it's like to be with someone like that. Someone who wants to control you, have a say in everything you do or even what you wear. It hurt seeing my best friend suffering like I did." I paused, and giggled. "I can't believe I've managed to get a best friend _and_ a boyfriend while trapped on an island after a plane crash," I mused more to myself than to Boone.

Gently, he pulled my face towards him to meet his eyes. "You don't ever have to worry about that anymore, you know that right? I would never do to you what that asshole did, and I'm sorry that it seemed like I _tried_ , and—"

"Boone," I whispered, shushing him. "It's okay, I know."

We kissed softly, and I rested myself against him once more, feeling utterly safe and relaxed for the first time in the past few days.

 **~o~**

 **I wonder if it was obvious how much I don't like Michael hmmm.**

 **I'm also pretty sure my love of preserum Steve Rogers has influenced the way I write Dani. They're both small, classy, angry and want to fight. This is Dani: (** ง **'̀-'́)** ง **And this Steve Rogers: (** ง **'̀-'́)** ง

 **Thanks everyone that reviewed! You're awesome! :)**


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